Babysitter from Heaven
by Weavillain
Summary: Lori's great day takes a turn for the worse when she finds out that in her absence, her parents hired someone to watch over her younger siblings. That "someone" just so happens to be the person that she despises the most from school; Carol Pingrey.
1. Chapter 1

Nothing, absolutely nothing, could knock Lori off her stride today. Even now, as she drove her noisy, disorderly siblings from school to home, their backseat antics did nothing to wipe her plastered grin off her face.

Normally, she would only take a few of her siblings with her from school to take them back to the house, leaving the others to either walk or take the bus. She knew firsthand that her siblings would always get rowdy whenever they were driven around in Vanzilla as a group, especially without their parents around to keep a tight leash on them and restore order. Even she was guilty of falling out of line with them from time to time.

But today, oh goodness, today had been _fantastic_ for Lori, so much so that she was in a good enough mood to pick all her siblings up. But then again, why wouldn't she be soaring in the clouds? Not only did she find out that she aced both her American History test and her Calculus test but she won herself a $100 gift card for the Royal Woods Mall at a raffle from her school's "Male Pattern Baldness Cure" fundraiser.

Lori sunk back into the driver's seat and let out a dazed, content sigh, completely blocking off the sibling tomfoolery that would normally give her a splitting migraine and cause her to lash out.

' _Make all the noise you want, twerps,'_ Lori thought to herself. _'You're not killing my joy today._ _Nothing_ _will.'_

* * *

The not-so peaceful drive finally came to an end as Lori parked Vanzilla in the driveway. Turning back towards her frenetic passengers, she sweetly announced, "Hey, guys, we're back home."

The melodious tone of her voice caused her siblings to stop mid-motion and give Lori bewildered looks, fully expecting her to unceremoniously kick them out of the van with a barb or two.

"Didn't you guys hear me?" Lori asked in that same unusually silvery voice. "Get in the house, you little rascals."

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, the children did as Lori said, bolting out the van to run into the house, toppling over each other and hollering in the process.

Only Lincoln stayed behind, slowly exiting the van and waiting for Lori to come out. Once she did, he stepped in front of her to prevent her from going any further.

"Uh, Lori?"

"Yeeeees, Lincoln?" Lori responded ever-so delightfully along with batting her eyelashes.

That gesture caused Lincoln to flinch back and almost go running for the hills. It had been a long time since Lori had _ever_ acted like this and it was starting to freak him out.

"Is…is everything okay?" Lincoln asked.

He let out a grunt of annoyance when Lori simply giggled and ruffled his hair.

"Why, of course, you silly goose," Lori teased. "Why wouldn't I be fine?"

Lincoln could only shrug helplessly.

"I mean, I…I guess that you-"

"Oh, Lincoln, you're so adorable when you act all concerned for your sisters! C'mere, you!"

Before he could make sense of his sister's weird behavior, Lori had picked him off the ground and squeezed him tightly in a bear hug, causing breath to rush out of his lungs as he wheezed and spluttered at how roughly clamped on it was.

Finally, she released him and dragged him behind her by the hand despite his protests. Once they approached the door, they found their parents standing by the doorway with smiles on their faces. Lori let go of Lincoln's aching hand to run up to them and give them each a hug.

"Hello, dearest mother and father," Lori said, looking at them both expectantly.

"Um…h-hey, Lori," Lynn Sr. replied.

"We, uh, we were waiting for you and Lincoln to get in here so we could tell you kids something important," Rita added with a nervous smile.

Lori could only beam even brighter at that revelation. Why, with everything that was going her way today, who was to say that her parents hadn't chipped in and bought her own car? Or a yacht? Or a private jet?!

The point was, she had to find out. _Now_.

Taking Lincoln's hand again, Lori looked down at her freaked-out brother and said, "Well, you heard them, Lincoln. Let's go!"

With that, Lori sped past her parents, dragging a dissenting, grumbling Lincoln along until she was in front of the living room couch, where her other siblings sat and looked on her with befuddled expressions at Lori's demeanor, much like they did in the van.

Ignoring them, Lori found a spot right in the middle of the sofa and squeezed herself in. Then, she picked Lincoln up and plopped him onto her lap, looking over his head and flailing limbs as her parents shuffled in.

"So, kids," Lynn Sr. began as he and his wife stood in front of the TV, "we have something we'd like to say. Now, there are three parts to this news: good news, bad news, and more good news."

Although Lori slightly winced at "bad news", she had a gut feeling that the "bad news" would either not affect her, given her great fortune today, or it would be so minor that all the good stuff would offset the bad.

Either way, Lori was confident that she'd come out of this all smiles.

"The good news is, a few of my co-workers, along with myself, got invited by our boss to visit the DHCC tonight," Lynn Sr. continued.

"It gets better," Rita interjected. "The invite also said that he's allowed to bring family along for the trip."

Lori, along with her siblings, squealed in delight and bounced about in their seats. The Duke Hill Country Club(DHCC) was one of the most prestigious country clubs in the entire state. Anyone, who wasn't a member, would be more likely to dive into a volcano and climb out unharmed than get a single glance at the building in person, let alone actually go in person.

' _I knew today would only get better,'_ Lori thought. _'I just knew it! There's nothing that can-'_

"However, this is also where the bad news comes in," Rita interrupted with a sad inflection, causing everyone not named Lynn Sr. to lean in anticipation while holding out hope that the bad news wasn't too bad.

The nervous chuckle from Lynn Sr. didn't mollify their anxiety at all.

"See, the club only allows for visitors and members to be thirteen and over. No exceptions. That means that Lincoln, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa, and Lily will have to stay behind while the rest of us go."

The room filled with the cacophony of cheers and grumbling with Lori doing the loudest on either end. She was in the clear and that was all that mattered. While she whooped and hollered jubilantly, her eyes scanned down to Lincoln, who was pouting with folded arms.

Though Lori did feel a pang of sympathy for her brother, along with everyone else who would be missing out, she was far too self-absorbed in her own joy to give them any pity, especially since they wanted to act like brats in the van earlier and threaten to chip away at her good mood.

In her mind, this called for a little rubbing in.

"Awww, don't be sad, Lincoln," Lori "consoled" with a hint of condescension as she petted his head, "you'll get in once you're older. You just have to wait for another two years."

She smirked inwardly at the dirty glare he casts her, loving how truly dejected and ruffled he was. Unfazed, Lori thought that maybe it'd teach him a thing or two about getting on her nerves all the time.

Before her silent gloating could continue, however, Lynn broke up the noisy commotion with a question.

"But wait, if we're going to the club, who's gonna be watching them?" Lynn asked while jabbing a finger at her uninvited siblings.

"Oh, oh, I know," Leni said enthusiastically as she waved her arms animatedly, "Lori can babysit them like she always does!"

Besides Leni, everyone in the room, even Lily, facepalmed.

"Um, Leni," Luna told her confused sister, "Lori's coming with us. She can't be in two places at once."

"Not until I have my cloning machine up and running, at least" Lisa said.

She then glowered at her parents.

"Shouldn't be too much of an issue since I'll be staying home."

Rita chuckled. "Now, now, Lisa. You haven't heard the other good news yet."

Lisa raised a challenging eyebrow as a gesture of her disbelief.

"Oh? And what exactly do you have in store that can placate my angst?"

Lynn Sr. got on eye-level with her by kneeling down in front of her, smiling at her as if his news was a guarantee to get her at least a little excited.

"We'll be hiring a babysitter to look after you while we're gone," he told her.

"But not just any babysitter," Rita jumped in. "We'll be sure to get the best one possible!"

Lori frowned a bit at her mother referring to someone other than her as the best babysitter possible. They rarely needed anyone other than her to watch over her younger siblings and by the sounds of it, they didn't seem the slightest bit concerned about handing over that huge responsibility, that obviously only _she_ could handle at such an expert level, to someone else. Even if this person only had to watch over six of them, it would still be such a tall order to fill.

Lori sighed wearily. She supposed that her talent for commanding respect and order had to come at a price, the price of anxiety from not being around to keep things in order while someone less equipped for the job had their hands on the ship's wheel.

Oh well. C'est la vie, as the French would say.

"Like who?" Lincoln asked her mother with a curious gaze.

At that, Lynn Sr. retreated back to his wife's side and rubs the back of his head with a sheepish grin.

"Weeeeeeeeell…we haven't quite found one juuuuust yet. We still haven't found someone who can meet up with the high demand of the job. But don't you kids worry about anything. We've got it covered. It's 3:00 now and we'll have to leave the house by 6:00 at the latest if we want to make it there in time by 7:00 like the invite wanted. I'm sure we'll find who we're looking for by then."

After saying his piece, Lynn Sr. left, walking up the stairs while Rita followed behind. The matriarch stops before she can get any further and leans over the banister.

"So, anyways," Rita said, "that's about it. Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, and Lynn, go get yourselves ready. And as for the rest of you, I expect you to be on your best behavior. I don't want to hear any horror stories when I get back. Understand?"

When she gets a series of "Yes, Mom"'s from her children, Rita goes upstairs to join her husband. Meanwhile, the siblings all disperse, going about their own way…

Except for Lori. Despite the good news of the DHCC settling in, she couldn't help but focus on the situation it left the entire house in. For the first time in Lord knew how long, the house wouldn't be under her watchful eye when the need for a babysitter arose. Though the feeling wasn't entirely permeated within her, Lori still felt that her authority was being usurped from her, snatched away and given into the hands of a total stranger that Mom and Dad would scramble about to find in three hours.

It didn't sit well with her that well. At all.

Even if it was for one night, Lori hated feeling like she wasn't needed. She hated it so much that she cost Leni her driver's license over it, something that she still felt guilty about to this day.

But because of that, she knew that she couldn't be rash and do something stupid to ease her insecurity. With that in mind, she ultimately decided to suck it up and not let the gnawing feeling of helplessness ruin her day.

Like she had promised herself earlier, nothing would kill her joy, especially her _own_ worry.

* * *

 _Later…_

' _Perfect,'_ Lori thought as she looked in her compact mirror and applied the last coat of spearmint lip gloss and gave her lips a few puckers to see if she missed a spot.

When she didn't find any faults in her application, Lori stuffed her makeup in the purse slung over her shoulder and exited the bathroom, feeling as though she was walking on air. Her worries had melted hours ago after a few self-assuring pep talks about not freaking out over the babysitter. She was sure the person would do an adequate job, especially with her mom telling them not to act up. Besides, even if they did need help, Lori could always give some advice over the phone, putting both her and the babysitter at ease all at once.

Finally, she made it down the stairs, where everyone had been waiting for her by the front door. She had taken the liberty of looking especially elegant, even though casual wear was the only thing that they needed to have on.

"About time you showed up," Luna grumbled. "We were waiting _forever_."

Lori rolled her eyes and gave Luna a playful slap on the back.

"Oh, come now, Luna. The babysitter hasn't even shown up yet so it's not as if we could've left any time soon. Besides, I needed to make sure I looked my best so I had to break out the spearmint lip gloss this time around."

Luan covered her hands over her mouth and snickered.

"I guess you didn't want to _gloss over_ anything, eh, sis?" Luan joked, prompting her "captive" audience to groan and shake their heads, except for Lynn Sr, who laughed out loud.

"Good one, Luan," Lynn Sr. praised between chuckles.

While the pun-loving brunettes laughed together, Lola and Lana shuffled closer to the door until they were in front of Rita, looking up at her.

"So yeah, when _is_ the babysitter coming?" Lola asked.

"And better yet, who is it?" Lana added.

At the questions she got, Rita checked her watch and smiled, finding that they were making good time despite the babysitter's absence.

"Well, seeing as how she's the best one we could hope to find in such short notice, I'm sure she'll be here by 5:30 like she promised," Rita promised.

Lola and Lana grinned widely at the pronoun "she".

"It's a 'she'?!" Lola squealed. "Ooooooh, I hope she loves to accessorize!"

"I hope she knows how to take care of pets," Lana hoped with a twinkle in her eye.

"I'd be pleased if she knew a thing or two about the occult," Lucy said, making everyone around her jump up with a shriek at Lucy's "sudden" intrusion.

After calming down his racing heart, Lynn Sr. said, "I don't know if she's into all of that but what I do know is that she'll be worth every penny. Isn't that right, Rita?"

Rita nodded. "Absolutely. We were both shocked when we found her profile on this website called Sitters4Hire and how…well, perfect she is for the job. She's one of the highest rated babysitters in Michigan. In fact, she even has a perfect five-star rating out of over 200 different ratings. Oh, and get this, even though she was in high demand, she chose our job offering specifically. Aren't we lucky or what?"

Lori scoffed under her breath. Perfect? Five stars? As if. The only way this person could be anyone of those things was if _she_ was doing the job. Nonetheless, she supposed with those credentials, she could hope to be a good fit for second place; out of her league by a wide margin but second place all the same.

"So, I gotta ask, Dad," Lori asked amusedly, "who is our valiant, perfect knight in shining armor, coming to our rescue while we whisk away to a wonderful land of class and refinement?"

Lynn Sr. smirked and chortled, catching his daughter's almost acidic mirth easily and finding amusement in it himself.

"Well," Lynn Sr. explained, "your 'knight in shining armor' is…uhhhhh…"

Lynn Sr. paused and looked around at the expectant faces of his children. Shyly, he leaned over to Rita and whispered, "Uhhh…Rita?"

"Yes?"

"How do you say her last name again?"

Rita shook her head, rolled her eyes, and did what he requested when she whispered the name in his ear.

"Oh, right! Of course!" Lynn Sr. said and lightly bonked himself in the side of the head a few times with his fist. "I almost forgot for a second! It's quite the mouthful, I must say!"

He punctuated his excuse with a weak laugh before clearing his throat.

"A-anyways, you'll know who she is, Lori, because it said on her profile that she attends the same high school as you. Her name's Carol Pingrey."

In that split second, Lori's mind completely snaps, her brain melting and oozing underneath the weight of her boiling fury that she hides under the guise of an unnaturally large, toothy smile.

It couldn't be. I-It shouldn't be! This had to be a dream, some sort of nightmare that she hadn't waken up from. She should've expected this; her day had been doing so well, too. She never had a break this lucky in a long time so it made sense that it was just a dream that was now spinning wildly out of control and into the depths of the worst personal hell imaginable.

Carol Pingery? Babysitting _her_ siblings? Pssh, of course it was just a nightmare.

Right?

 _ **RIGHT?!**_

"I'm…I'm sorry," Lori weakly retorted through her gritted teeth, "could you, uh, repeat that again for me? You said her name is…?"

"Carol…Pingrey?" Lynn Sr. replied apprehensively, noting his daughter's disturbing face.

Oh. Oooooookay. Well then…

Lori dropped to her knees, still wearing the smile on her face that everyone around her found extremely unsettling. Her left eye twitching didn't help settle their anxiety one bit.

"Lori?" Lincoln called out to her as he cautiously approached her unmoving, frozen form.

When he was right in front of her, he waved his hand up close to her face, trying to coax her to respond like a normal, totally _not_ insane person would.

"Loooooooori?"

He flinched when Lori quickly turned her head towards him, all while wearing her creepy grin. He felt his stomach parkouring about and his heart thumping erratically, not liking Lori's silent replies at all. He had a feeling that something was off with her today, but he didn't imagine it would make her turn out like _this_.

For the final time, Lincoln tried to get through to his eldest sister, this time more directly.

"Lori, is everything ok-"

He yelped when Lori finally dropped her smile, leaned into him, and stood by as she sucked in a big breath of air in her chest before letting it all out in one loud, elongated monosyllabic word that was so heavily associated with her.

" _ **NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-"**_


	2. Chapter 2

" _ **-OOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**_

By the end of her loud, elongated bellow, Lori was panting heavily, trying to get breath back in her lungs as she heaved and wheezed while bracing herself against the floor on her hands and knees. While everyone around her looked on perturbed and bewildered, Lisa simply looked at the stopwatch in her hand and pressed the "stop" button.

"3 minutes, 32 seconds," she remarked stoically. "Remarkable expiratory reserve volume. I must make note of this for future reference."

She then pulled out a pencil and notepad and began scribbling notes on it. The scribbling noise made Lori perk up and run over to Lisa once she realized what she was doing.

"Give me that!" Lori exclaimed and snatched the notepad away from Lisa and ran up the stairs in a flash.

Again, no one knew what to make of her odd behavior. Lincoln, for instance, had no idea that Lori would react to Carol so negatively. Of course, he knew how much Lori disliked Carol. In fact, _everyone_ in the house knew. After Carol had beaten her for the title of Homecoming Queen, Lori made sure that everyone knew what a harpy and a cheat Carol supposedly was; day in and day out for at least a month.

But that trend ended months ago and besides bringing her up once in a while nowadays, the name "Carol" never passed Lori's lips and it was safe that the person "Carol" rarely crossed Lori's mind.

And to make matters more confusing, her Carol-centered meltdowns were never this…nuclear. Just what the heck was so wrong about her babysitting him and his younger siblings while Lori had the time of her life? If anything, he'd think she'd see Carol in a new light and maybe, just maybe, be a bit grateful. Did she despise her so badly that she couldn't even see it that way?

Before Lincoln could muse over Lori's odd behavior any further, Lori suddenly sped past him and the rest of his family as she ran out the door. A barrage of rapid fire smacking noises hit their ears but right before they could run outside and check on Lori, it stopped and Lori ran back inside, stopping as soon as she got on the couch and began muttering to herself while huddling in the fetal position.

Deciding to leave her for the time being, the group went to survey the "damage"…

…and found written warnings on the same paper from Lisa's notepad, littered all over the walls of the front of the house as they stuck to the surface by masking tape.

"How awful!" Rita said.

"I'll say," Lisa remarked with a shake of her head. "She spelled 'quarantined' wrong. Hysteria is no excuse for poor literacy. For shame, Lori."

"I always knew she didn't like Carol that much, but I never knew she had it out for her this badly," Luan said with a smile "Guess we all should've seen the writing on the wall! Hahahahahaha! Get it?"

While the usual suspects groaned at yet another Luan pun, this time, Lynn Sr. didn't laugh, focused only on getting the house presentable before Carol showed up.

He turned to Lynn and said, "Junior, do me a favor and take all these signs down, would you?"

"Got it, coach," Lynn said with a salute and instantly scrambled about as she tore down sign after sign.

Meanwhile, Lynn Sr. turned his attention back to his hysteric daughter, who was now rocking back and forth in her fetal position, not paying mind to anything around her.

"And as for you, Lori," Lynn Sr. shouted as he walked back into the house as his family followed behind him, "just what on Earth has gotten into you?!"

That remark got Lori to snap out of her trance, march over to her father, and retaliate verbally with a scowl that was usually only reserved for unwarranted bedroom breaches, bad hair days, or dropped calls from Bobby.

"What's gotten into me?! WHAT'S GOTTEN INTO _ME_?!" Lori shrieked, causing everyone to flinch back. "Have you gone completely insane?! Why on Earth would you hire that…that…UGGGGH!"

Unable to vocalize her inner thoughts clearly, Lori took a break to calm her nerves as best as she could before she let them out. Meanwhile, Lynn ran back into the house with all of Lori's signs under her arm, making sure to close the door behind her as she did.

"Carol Pingrey is _literally_ the most soulless, disgusting creature on the face of the planet! Words cannot begin to describe how horrible she is! She's worse than a plague of disease ridden rats because she herself is the personification of disease and wickedness! Her heart only pumps the essence of darkness in her cold, shallow veins! If evil were a snack food, Carol Pingrey would own the entire factory that made them and give her employees less than minimum wage, no health insurance, and no bathroom breaks!"

With her rant over, Lori ran back to the couch to resume her fetal position, this time, complimented by thumb sucking and eye twitching.

"Woah," Lucy remarked with a voice that revealed a hint of admiration. "That was…awe-inspiring. I must make note of that for future inspiration."

Before Rita could make note of Lori's less than flattering sentiments about Carol, a thought hit her. Now that Lori mentioned her, she had heard the name "Carol Pingrey" from…somewhere but she just couldn't figure out from where.

"Wait a minute…Carol Pingrey…that name sounds familiar," Rita said while tapping her chin with a finger. "Where have I heard it before?"

"Yeah, I think I've heard it before, too," Lynn Sr told her, "but I can't remember where I…"

Lynn Sr. mulled it over, completely ignoring his children's silent pleas to stop digging any further and just drop it. Suddenly, it came to him and with a snap of his fingers, he said, "Oh, now I remember! Isn't she that girl who beat Lori for Homecoming Queen and she wouldn't stop ranting about it for the longest time?"

Lynn Sr.'s tactlessness only made Lori rock back and forth faster, earning him hard glares from everyone around him while he smiled nervously and shrugged.

Luna, turning her attention to Lori again, took a few steps forward to get Lori's attention.

"Okay, dude, seriously, I know you and Carol aren't exactly BFF's but don't you think you're being just a tad bit extreme here? Carol's a really cool girl. You should give her a chance."

"I'll say," Luan retorted. "Why, I heard from Luna that she let this one kid cut in front of her in line for lunch when they were serving pizza. If that's not generous, _pie_ don't know what is!"

"Yeah, and she's like, totes smart, too," Leni chimed in amidst the groans that Luan's pun got. "Just last week, she helped me with my report on South American countries. Like, who knew that Peru was more than just a coffee bean flavor?"

Meanwhile, Lincoln looked on at Lori's ordeal from afar and couldn't help but feel a tad bit guilty. Maybe it wasn't his fault but he still couldn't shoot down the possibility that he was partially responsible for her behavior. After all, he was the one who used Lori's hatred for Carol as leverage to get her to conform to his "ideal" family picture not too long ago.

Perhaps, it was that experience that pushed Carol to the forefront of her thoughts after finally putting her (mostly) behind her and the babysitter revelation only made it worse.

Regardless of his fault in the matter, Lincoln felt that he had to say something to get Lori in high spirits, especially since it seemed that his older sisters were doing a good job so far.

With a deep breath, Lincoln headed towards Lori and stopped when he was standing right in front of her. Against the path of caution, Lincoln leaned down and hugged Lori tenderly.

"Look, Lori," Lincoln said softly, "I don't know why you're freaking out like this but if it's because you're worried about us, I promise you that we'll be fine. I mean, you heard Mom and Dad, right? She's perfect for-"

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Lori yelled spontaneously, causing Lincoln to leap back in sheer fright and fall on his butt.

Lori continued to babble and mutter under her breath as her family looked on helplessly…

…until her eyelids began to droop and her rambling was reduced to gentle whispers. About a few seconds later, she finally passed out, snoring loudly on the couch as everyone looked on in confusion.

Suddenly, Lisa popped out from behind Lori, holding out a syringe needle with a triumphant grin on her face.

"Ah, the wonders of liquid Propofol. Never leave the bedroom without it."

Despite her success, she couldn't ward off the "Really, Lisa?" looks on her family's faces.

"What?" Lisa replied with a shrug," The concentration is diluted. She'll be awake in about half an hour or so."

Before anyone could retort about the immorality of surprise sedation on family or…anyone in general, the sound of the door knocking stirred everyone's attention to the source of the noise.

"That must be her," Lynn Sr. said excitedly. "I'll get it."

"And right on time," Rita remarked with a smile as she looked down at her wristwatch.

With that, Lynn Sr. approached the door and flung it open, revealing Carol Pingrey on the other side, smiling brightly at the Loud patriarch. Along with her usual attire was a blue duffel bag slung over her right shoulder and a black purse over the other one.

"Hi," Carol said and extended a hand for Lynn Sr. to shake. "You're Mr. Loud, right?"

"Why, yes, I am," Lynn Sr. replied confidently, meeting her hand to lightly shake it. "It's nice to finally meet you in person, Carol Peachy."

Lynn Sr. froze the instant the last word came out and with a quick look at Carol's now befuddled expression, he realized that he had made a major foul-up.

"Wait…I-I mean, uh, P-Poacher!" Lynn Sr. "corrected" frantically, only to continue to get Carol's incredulous glare.

"No, wait! T-that's wrong, too! It's Ping-Pong, right?!"

Carol shook her head, although by now, she appeared to be slightly amused by Lynn Sr.'s continued blunders, given the slight smirk on her face.

"Ah, dang it, that's not it, either! I know, it's Pun- _oooooooow_!"

Having had enough of her husband's embarrassing disgrace, Rita marched over to him and pulled him back from the doorway with a sharp yank of the ear and held him back while keeping her iron grip latched on.

"Pingrey," Rita growled, her eyes narrowed in icy slits, "Carol… _Pingrey_."

With her husband in line, Rita turned to Carol with a smile.

"Carol, thank you so much for accepting our offer. You have no idea how much your help means to us."

"Eh, don't mention it," Carol said offhandedly. "Just doin' my job."

"Okay," Rita said, a tad more professionally, "so we'll be back by around 10:30 PM so you're on the clock for five hours. Since your usual rate is fifteen dollars an hour, that should be abou-"

"Oh, actually," Carol cut in, "first time clients get a 33% discount. It's the Pingrey Policy."

"The Pepper Policy, huh?" Lynn Sr. said with a smile despite his pain. "I like that sound of th- _ooooooooow_!"

"Unbelievable! She _just_ said it! How could you forget it already?!" Rita cried as she twisted her husband's ear further.

With a sigh, Rita reached in her pocket and pulled out a white sheet of notebook paper before handing it off to Carol.

"So, uh, anyways, here's a list of things you need to know about the children. In addition, I know it's a Friday night but make sure that they get to bed at a reasonable time. Also, dinner's in the fridge so just heat it up once it's dinner time."

Carol took her time to studiously scan the paper and after reading it entirely, she stuffed it in her purse.

"Gotcha, Mrs. Loud," Carol said. "I'll take care of everything."

"I trust that you will," Rita said, "but just in case something comes up, give us a call, okay? I left my contact information on the list, as well as Lynn's."

Satisfied with her work, Rita turned to her younger children and waved them a quick goodbye and blew them a kiss. With that, she looked back at Carol.

"Alright, I think that covers just about everything. Carol, I leave this house and our children in your more than capable hands."

Wanting to get back in the conversation, Lynn Sr. gave Carol a pat on the shoulder and said, "You really did us a favor. Thanks again, Carol P- _ooooooooow_!"

"Let's not go down that route again, dear," Rita reprimanded after another ear twist. "Come along, children. Lynn, be a dear and take care of Lori, would you?"

Lynn did as her mother instructed, heading over to the couch and slinging Lori over her shoulders effortlessly. She followed behind her mother as she dragged Lynn Sr. out the house by the ear, ignoring his protests and wails. When Lynn's eyes met Carol's, she chuckled weakly at Carol's expectant stare as she silently asked her what the deal with Lori was.

"Uhhhhhhh…she's sleeping," Lynn said quickly and ran off.

Luna and Luan followed behind her but not before saying goodbye and thanks to Carol. Leni was the last one to leave, standing by the doorway in front of Carol with a huge smile on her face.

"Bye, Carol, thanks again for the help with that homework," Leni said and ran off to follow her family into Vanzilla.

"Don't mention it, Leni," Carol called out to her, "but don't forget, 'Lima' is not a bean if it's on your map"!

The remaining Loud children watched through the living room window as Vanzilla drove off into the distance.

Lincoln, in particular, didn't know what to think about his situation. Lori, while certainly not without her faults, provided him with a sense of security and familiarity when he had to be watched over in his parent's absence. Even if he was confident that Carol would be as great as her reviews and older sisters lauded her to be, there was still a tiny speck of concern that perhaps…

Perhaps Lori was _right_.

* * *

 _27 minutes later…_

With a groan, Lori began to stir, having some difficult getting her bearings. After about a minute of trying to set her brain straight, Lori was confident that she could make speech without slurring.

"Eeeeeeeh, my head. What the heck happened?" Lori asked as she blinked furiously to get the cobwebs out of her eyes.

"Finally awake, dear?" she heard her mother ask from up in front of her.

"Yeah but…"

Hold on. Why was she…moving? She sure as heck wasn't doing it on her own. In fact, now that she thought about, she could feel her back pressed against the rugged material of…one of the backseats of Vanzilla?

Shaking her head about, Lori gave herself a quick slap across the face and relished in her surroundings when they finally came into crystal clear view. There she was, strapped in the "sweet spot" of Vanzilla. Up in front were her parents, her mother riding shotgun while her father manned the steering wheel, as usual.

She looked back at the other seats and found them occupied with the sheepish smiling faces of Luna, Luan, Leni, and Lynn, who all waved at her.

"Wh-what happened? What's goin' on?" Lori asked somewhat dazedly.

With some deliberation before she spoke, Luna said, "to your first question, Lisa poked you in the buns with a sleepy-time drug."

"Wait, wh-"

"To your second question," Luna interrupted, wanting to get through her explanation as quickly as possible, "we're in Vanzilla, headed to the DHCC. Isn't it great?"

' _Ooooooh, that's right,'_ Lori thought as it all came back to her, _'Dad got invited to the Duke Hill Country Club and I'm going with Leni, Luna, Lynn, and Luan since we meet the age requirement.'_

Lori sighed contently, reminiscing about what she remembered that led up to such a grand moment. First, there were the aced tests. Then, came the gift card. And now, she could top it off by going to the DHCC…

But…but she felt like she was forgetting something. It came to her once Vanzilla ran over a bump on the freeway they were driving on, lightly bonking her head against her seat.

Mom and Dad had hired someone to watch over her siblings while she immensely enjoyed herself. Why, she had to thank that person who came through for her. It was only a matter of…

Suddenly, the mental image of her worst enemy flashed before her, grinning mockingly at her as she waved to her captive audience whilst wearing the "Homecoming Queen" sash and crown.

For the second time that day, Lori felt her brain, along with her sanity, collapsing in on itself.

"CAROOOOOOL!" Lori screamed as she unbuckled her seatbelt and made a leap for the driver's seat, reaching for the steering wheel for dear life.

"We've gotta go back! We have to!" she begged frantically.

Lori's sudden intrusion caused Lynn Sr. to dangerously weave around on the road, earning the swears and car honks from drivers that whizzed by them. Before Lori could do any worse, Lynn and Luna unbuckled their seatbelts to quickly yank Lori back in her spot, securing her in place as Lori kicked and screamed for freedom.

Rita looked back at Lori with a cold glare and her teeth bared.

"That _does_ it! I've had it up to here with your behavior! If you don't put a check on that attitude of yours, the word 'grounded' won't even begin to describe what will happen to you, especially if you act up at the country club!"

"But, Mom, you don't understand!" Lori pleaded with tears forming in her eyes. "Carol is-"

"LORI, ENOUGH!"

That loud outburst caused everyone, even Rita, to look back at what had caused it. Even after they realized who it was that yelled at Lori like that, they still couldn't believe that she had done it.

"L-Leni?" Lori asked weakly, looking on as Leni had her arms folded and her eyes bored holds into her head.

Leni rarely snapped at Lori like that. Sure, she had her share of shouting matches with her before but that was always when Lori had her own piece to say. In this context, Leni was essentially backing Lori into the corner and ordering her to _shut up_.

The realization of that caused Lori to sniffle. This did nothing to unfurl Leni's huge frown.

"I don't know why you think Carol's a monster but she doesn't deserve you badmouthing her, especially when she's just trying to help us!"

"B-but-"

"But what, huh? But what?! Are you _still_ mad about some dumb sash and crown?! Is that it?! I thought you better than that, Lori!"

Lori gasped, covering her mouth to stifle her whimpers though the look of hurt on her face was still evident to evoke the message that Leni's words hurt her. It was apparently sympathetic enough for Leni's hard glare to soften into one of gentle correction, along with concern.

"Lori, we're about to go to one of the best country clubs, like, ever…and we all have Carol to thank for that. Like Mom and Dad said, she's perfect for the job; P-U-R-F-I-K-T. Why can't you understand that and just…just let her do her job without breathing down her neck and insulting her when she doesn't deserve it?"

Lori looked on at Leni and then towards the rest of her family. She could tell from a glance; no one was on her side. No one cared what she was going through. No one wanted to bother with her anymore. Why would when they had Carol "Perfect" Pingrey?

She was gonna wow everyone with her perfect babysitting skills. Her family would wonder where Carol was their entire lives to take care of everything that Lori was responsible for managing. Soon, even her siblings would start to prefer Carol's babysitting to hers. They wouldn't just not need her anymore, they wouldn't _want_ her anymore.

All those perfect five-star reviews…it all made sense now. Of course, Carol Pingrey would be the one to get them. Why wouldn't she? She was perfect and from Lori's perspective, flaunted it about like it was no one's business while rubbing it in her face.

And now…now she was gonna use her talents to tear her away from her family and not a single person in the world cared that she was doing it.

"Fine," Lori groaned defeatedly and slunk into her seat.

No one said another word after that, allowing Lori to mope about her predicament without interruption.


	3. Chapter 3

Lincoln's heart sank as Carol stepped into the house and shut the door behind her.

Now, it was official. The Loud House was under Pingrey law for the next five hours and there was nothing he could do about it. At first, the doubts of Carol's niceness were only gnawing thoughts that nibbled slowly but surely at his confidence in her lauding approval from various clients. But now that they were effectively shut out from the outside world, Lori's words started spiraling about in his head, urging him to take caution.

"Okay, kiddos, line up in front of the staircase; oldest to youngest," Carol said without turning around to face them.

The Loud siblings gave each other knowing looks; this was exactly the way Lori would have them assembled before giving them her marching orders.

This realization only made Lincoln increasingly apprehensive, to the point where his racing heart felt fit to burst out of his ribcage. Lori, as well-meaning as she was, was guilty of implementing rather harsh methods in bringing them to heel and that was his sister. An outsider like Carol Pingrey, if she adapted the same ruthless regime, wouldn't be as forgiving.

Nonetheless, regardless of his dread, he obeyed and slowly shuffled into line where Carol had instructed him to stand and looked on as his siblings did the same.

When Carol finally turned around, Lincoln felt his pulse began to slow and his tense muscles relax. Instead of grinning wickedly at them or snarling like a drill sergeant, Carol was looking on at them with sunny smile that could only be matched by the ones he saw Leni wear every day.

Sighing inwardly, Lincoln tried assuring himself that he was just imagining things.

' _C-calm down, Lincoln. It's all in your head. Carol's just trying to…uh, s-see if we're all accounted for. T-that's all.'_

However, almost as soon as the relief came, it disappeared when Carol walked up to them, stopping until her shadow loomed over them, almost as if it were a premonition for the dark times he had ahead. What made Lincoln worry the most was, instead of saying anything, Carol just squinted her eyes while slowly looking at each them.

At this, a new thought entered Lincoln's mind.

' _Or maybe she's trying to see which of us is the weakest, so she can make an example out of them in front of us so we'll fall in line!'_

"Let me see if I've got this right…" Carol began as she leaned back and pointed a finger at Lily.

From Lily, she pointed at each successive sibling until she got to Lincoln, all while sounding off their names.

"Lily…Lisa…Lola…Lana…Lucy…Lincoln. Is that right?"

Lincoln breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that his imagination was seemingly getting the better of him, and responds with, "Uh huh."

"Sweet!" Carol said and victoriously pumped her fist.

' _See, Lincoln, you're overreacting. Carol's gonna be great. Don't let Lori's doom and gloom proclamations psyche you out.'_

"Alright, so now that I've got your all properly identified, I think it's time we went through what's about to go down. I've only got four rules and I hope you're all good children and obey them. We clear?" Carol asked.

The Loud children nod in compliance.

"Good. Rule #1, I know all of you…well, scratch that, most of you," Carol began and winked at Lincoln, "haven't met me before and I'm sure your parents have taught you how to address strangers properly but for me, don't call me Ms. Pingrey. It's just so…I dunno, icky. Just call me Carol. I'm more than just your babysitter, I'm your friend so just greet me on a first name basis.

Rule #2, don't do anything that you wouldn't do if your parents were home. And since I don't know you all very well, your parents were _very_ helpful with leaving me with a list of things that you weren't allowed to do while they're out with your other sisters. I assume you all know what those things are, right?"

Again, they give her a nod. They knew firsthand what it was that they weren't allowed to do and didn't need Carol to remind them on what it was. However, following the rules was something that they were constantly tempted not to do, especially when the opportunity for fun, at the expense of order, was given to them.

Knowing this well enough for himself, since he had a hand in trying (and failing) to take over as babysitter while Lori was stowed away, Lincoln had to wonder how Carol would act if one of his sisters got out of control. Sure, it was easy to act like cheery and sweet when things were going her way but soon enough, trouble was bound to happen and Lincoln wasn't so sure if Carol's "perfection" would hold out against that.

All of a sudden, Lincoln found himself on the edge again, wondering if Carol was as wonderful as everyone said she was. Sure, he had a brief interaction with her on MyBook, when he found her account and asked her to come over to his house to help out with a family photo, so it wasn't as if he didn't have some clue as to what kind of person she was and she didn't seem bad when she agreed to do it.

But that couldn't stop his brain from being flooded with different scenarios of Carol biting their heads off (some of those scenarios _literally_ had her doing just that!) if things went south for her and her control on their behavior slipped through her fingers.

"Excellent," Carol said. "I'm counting on you all to be at your best behavior because for Rule #3, those who behave themselves get to play a really fun, super-duper, exciting game with me at 8:30."

"What kind of game?" Lincoln asked, not sure what to make of the "game" Carol had in store for them as he eyed her blue duffel bag and wondered if her "game" was inside of it.

He must've got caught staring as Carol placed it down by her side and stepped in front of it, all while reaching out to ruffle Lincoln's snow white locks.

"Now, Lincoln, where would the fun be if I told you what it was right away?" Carol cooed as her hand retreated.

"I…I guess you're right," Lincoln said, chuckling weakly.

"I knew you'd understand. Now then, onto Rule #4, and listen up because this is the most important one…"

Beads of sweat began to trickle down Lincoln's forehead. This was it. This was the deal breaker. This was going to be the deciding in all of this and from here, Lincoln would be able to know for sure if Carol would treat them well or not.

"Just chillax and be yourselves," Carol finished with a smile. "Like I said, we're friends so you don't have to act like you're on your guard around me. I promise, I don't bite."

With that, she walked over to the middle of the living room couch, helping herself to a seat and grabbed the remote next to her before aiming it at the TV and switching it on.

With Carol's introductory address finished, the Loud siblings, except for Lincoln, trundled up the stairs, intent on enjoying themselves for the rest of the evening.

Meanwhile, Lincoln, though thrilled with Carol's most important rule being about having fun, still wasn't entirely at ease. This time, though, it had less to do with Lori's opinion and more to do with Lincoln's unique evaluation. Carol truly seemed like someone who was courteous, charming and laid back. But again, she had only been around for about five minutes now and with none of them objecting to her rules or wrecking the house (yet), of course her mood would be in a good place.

But, that would surely change if his sisters acted up and if that was going to happen, Lincoln had to be there to see how Carol would handle herself. If he did that, he'd have a valid opinion of her once and for all. All he had to do was spy on her without her noticing. That way, he'd catch her without the chance of her response being an ac-

"Need something, Lincoln?" Carol asked when she noticed Lincoln standing from afar and thinking hard.

Lincoln jolted out of his thoughts and waved dismissively at her, almost as if he was caught red-handed.

"Who, uh, m-me?!" Lincoln spluttered, feeling his skin blanch and his stomach twist like a pretzel. "No, no, no! I was just…um…"

He scrambled about for an excuse and thanked his quick wits for the most plausible one that came to mind.

"G-going to go do m-my homework!" he finished and flashed an innocuous toothy grin.

A pregnant pause passed and Lincoln hoped that Carol hadn't seen through him. Thankfully, his prayers were answered when, instead of interrogating him for the truth, Carol just smiled and asked, "Need me to help you?"

"No, I'm good!" Lincoln insisted and slowly walked backwards up the stairs until he was out of Carol's view.

"Alrighty then, if you need me, I'll be down here," he heard her call out to him.

Now, in the clear, Lincoln chuckled at his smooth getaway and rubbed his hands together.

' _Way to go, Lincoln. You totally have her fooled. Now, we'll see, Carol. We'll see if you're as perfect as they say or if the only thing that's perfect about you is how you cover your tracks.'_

* * *

 _15 minutes later…_

Unlike his usual way of reading comic books, this time, Lincoln wasn't in his underwear. As he laid out on his bed, flipping through the pages of a comic book that he had read at least a dozen times by now, Lincoln was also on stakeout duty, keeping an ear out for his sisters and the possibility of the trouble they could bring about. Once it started, he'd be on their tail, watching from afar as he would wait for Carol to confront the problem head on.

Because of that, he needed to be ready to spring into action the second he needed to, hence his lack of half-naked reading.

"Oooooooooh, Caroooooool?" Lincoln heard Lola call out in a sing-song voice.

' _Perfect,'_ Lincoln thought and tossed his comic book aside jump out of bed and slowly opened his bedroom door, noticing Lola walking out of her room.

"Carooooool?" Lola called again.

"Down here, Lola," Carol said from the living room.

As Lola headed downstairs to meet up with Carol, Lincoln followed her closely behind, tiptoeing all the while.

He knew there was bound to be fireworks from this confrontation. He knew that tone from Lola well enough; that was the one she'd use where she'd want something and if she didn't get it, she'd throw a temper tantrum until she got her way. If there was any real test for Carol's babysitter disposition, this was sure to be it.

Once he quietly made it to the bottom step, he crouched behind the bannister and listened in to what was being said.

"Carol, would you be a dear and help me bake some tea cookies for my tea party?" Lola asked sweetly.

"Bake them? Lola, wouldn't it be easier if you just used the homemade ones? I found some in your pantry earlier," Carol said.

"I'm sorry but Tuskington, the Duchess of Cambridge, cannot suffice for the pastries of commoners. Her words, not mine. Sorry, Carol, but the Duchess herself demands only the finest."

Sensing imminent trouble brewing, Lincoln braced himself for the worst and shut his eyes. From Carl's tone and words, he could tell that she'd rather just watch TV than help Lola with her cookies. Once she let her down, Lola would start a temper and then, it was anyone's guess as to what Carol would react but since Lincoln wasn't just "anyone", he didn't think she'd take her outburst lightly.

' _This is it. Carol's gonna tell Lola to buzz off. I can just feel it coming. Any second now, she'll-'_

"Well, if the Duchess of Cambridge demands it, then who am I to resist her wishes? Let's get those cookies baked!" Carol exclaimed excitedly and followed a squealing Lola into the kitchen.

Lincoln's mouth dropped open, his lower jaw nearly falling on the ground. Carol just gave into Lola without so much as a fight. Even her eagerness to help Lola didn't seem practiced in the slightest. He couldn't believe his ears. Except on a rare day, no one, not even her parents, ever complied with Lola so willingly. This had to be a joke. He just had to see for himself.

Stealthily snaking towards the kitchen with belly crawling, Lincoln reached his destination, stopping at the entry by the kitchen and poking his head in far enough to see what was going on but not far enough to be spotted.

From there, he looked on in disbelief as Carol enthusiastically followed all of Lola's steps from her tea cookie recipe, not once complaining all the while. He could tell, just from looking at her, that she was having a blast baking with Lola. The smiles they exchanged, the cheeky way they dabbed cookie dough on each other's faces…Carol looked like she didn't want to be anywhere in the world but there, spending time with Lola and all over something that Lincoln didn't value at all.

By the time they were done, a good thirty minutes later, the fresh cookies popped out of the oven from Carol's tactful approach and as she placed the cookie tray on the stove, she fanned one of them and blew on it before handing it off to Lola's waiting grasp.

"Will these please your guest?" Carol asked.

Lola looked over the tea cookie and took a little bite out of it. Once she chewed and swallowed the treat, she smiled as widely as Lincoln had ever seen before.

"Please her? She'll fall in love with these!" Lola said and ran up to hug Carol's leg. "Thanks, Carol!"

"Aw, don't mention it," Carol replied and petted her head. "I just hope your tea party goes off without a hitch."

With that, Carol placed the rest of the cookies on a white plate, handed them off to Lola, and bid her farewell. Sensing that Lola was coming his way, Lincoln held his breath and leaned back against the side of the kitchen entryway while Lola hummed contently to herself as she passed him by.

Sighing in relief, Lincoln thanked his lucky stars that he didn't get caught. He wouldn't know what to do if Carol stumbled upon him.

Speaking of Carol, Lincoln was impressed with how Carol handled Lola. Stepping away for over half an hour from something she was doing, just to bake some cookies for some dumb old tea party, was admirable. But not just that, she did it willingly.

Maybe…maybe he misjudged her? Maybe, he should've had her pegged as a good person from the start instead of spying on her like she didn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. Maybe-

"Hey, Carol," said Lucy from the kitchen, frightening Lincoln out of his wits and nearly causing him to cry out.

Maybe they ought to put a bell on Lucy so she couldn't sneak up on anyone anymore! He panted quietly, trying to get his racing heart back to normal as he waited for Carol's response.

"Hi, Lucy," Lincoln heard Carol greet nonchalantly, as if she hadn't gotten scared at all.

This nearly freaked Lincoln out as much as Lucy's sudden entrance did. He had to see this for himself. He poked his head through the kitchen again to get a better view of the situation.

"Gasp. You…you didn't get scared?" Lucy asked.

"Why would I be scared of you?" Carol responded with an amused grin. "What, you thought I didn't notice you standing in the corner over there the whole time?"

Lincoln could tell, even with her bangs covering the upper half of her face, that Lucy's eyes widened.

"It's just that…people don't normally see me coming and when I get their attention, I freak them out," Lucy admitted sheepishly.

At that, Lincoln felt a tad bit guilty. It wasn't as if he was trying to be scared of her but it was really hard for him to not be taken by surprise when Lucy seemed to just materialize out of thin air like she did.

But Carol, once again, exceeded expectations in a way that Lincoln could've never guessed as even possible; she not only remained mellow in the face of Lucy's intrusion but had her eye out for her the whole time, not once forgetting that she was there all along.

"That's really weird because if anything, you really stand out. It'd be hard _not_ to see you coming. And you know what? I like that."

"Thank you," Lucy said with a flattered smile.

Carol returned the smile and asked, "So, anyways, you needed me for something?"

Lucy nodded. "Yes, well, I wanted to know if I could…well, possibly watch 'Vampires of Melancholia'. There's a new episode on tonight and I missed the first half of it."

Carol shrugged, not finding anything wrong the arrangement at all.

"Sure. TV's all yours."

Lucy expressed her surprise with another one of her "gasps".

"Really? You mean you don't mind?"

"Nah. In fact, how about we watch it together?" Carol said as she turned to leave the kitchen.

Before Carol could spot him, Lincoln rushed away as fast as he could, ducking into the dining room and sliding underneath the grown-up table. From there, he could still hear Lucy and Carol talking.

"You like 'Vampires of Melancholia'?"

"Haven't heard of it until now but if someone as cool as you digs it, it can't be bad, can it?"

After that, they didn't exchange another word and Lincoln was left to ponder over what he had just learned about Carol. Again, Lincoln couldn't find anything wrong with her, seeing her approach to Lola, and Lucy especially, as motherly, attentive, and just overall…nice.

But then again, that was just two sisters. Even if he couldn't discount her for treating Lucy and Lola kindly, that didn't mean she was in the clear yet. There was still Lily, Lisa, and Lana left. Surely, one of those three had to say or do something that could possibly set Carol off and like with Lola and Lucy, Lincoln had to make sure he was around.

' _Not bad, Carol. But, you're not out of the woods yet. I've still got my eyes on you.'_

* * *

 _Another 15 minutes later…_

Lincoln took root at his "station" back in his bed, once again looking out for any trouble. It had been well over an hour by now and even though Lucy and Lola were taken care of, it would only be a matter of time until-

"Lana?! Oh my gosh, you poor thing! What happened to you?!" he heard Carol shrieking from downstairs.

More than wanting to get the drop on Carol, Lincoln raced out of his bedroom, wanting to see what had happened with Lana. He had to remind himself, though, not to be too loud in case Carol realized she was being watched. That's why he was thankful that no one else seemed to hear Carol's outcry as he wanted to spy on her tend to Lana without knowing she was being watched.

He stealthily descended the flight of stairs and stopped halfway, peeking through the bars of the banister when he saw Lana standing before Carol. Her skin and clothes were covered in patches of dirt, something that Lincoln was used to seeing from her.

However, despite the normalcy of her state, it was clear that Lana had been crying, thanks to her puffy red eyes and quivering bottom lip giving that fact away.

"I…I…" Lana whimpered timidly. "I…I wanted to play fetch in the backyard with Charles...e-even though I'm not supposed to after 6:00 since Mom and Dad don't want me out there that late."

Lincoln shook his head and let out a groan. The poor girl just couldn't help herself when it came to fooling around in the dirt, could she? No matter the weather, if there was mud and dirt, Lana was sure to be there to roll around in the muck.

But Lincoln also realized that this was his chance to observe Carol act in a disciplinary role and he was hoping that, despite his doubts, she'd carry through her correction without being strict.

When Carol folded her arms and frowned, Lincoln began to panic, fearing the worst.

"And did you?" Carol asked sternly.

"Uh huh," Lana admitted while looking at the floor and sniffling.

"And then what happened?"

"I t-threw the stick at Charles for him to fetch for me…a-and then when he ran back to me with the stick, I-I…"

Lana's eyes watered all over again and tears began to fall.

"I ran out to him and then…t-then I tripped and scraped my knee-heheeeeeeee!" she finished as she rolled up the right pant leg of her overalls, revealing a deep gash just below her kneecap.

Both Carol and Lincoln winced at the injury, though Lincoln winced again when he thought of all the cruel ways that Carol would punish her. He was caught completely off guard when, instead of berating Lana for misbehaving, Carol reached down at Lana with both arms, almost as if she wanted to pick her up and hug her.

"C'mere, you," Carol said warmly and did just as Lincoln thought, picking Lana up and holding her tenderly in her arms.

"See, Lana, this is why parents gives your rules. They keep you safe so you don't go out and get yourself hurt," Carol chided without malice.

Turning towards the staircase but not quick enough to see Lincoln retreat up the stairs, Carol carried a whimpering Lana towards her new destination.

"Now come on, we're gonna get you cleaned up with a nice, warm bath and get that knee of yours cleaned, too."

"Am…am I in trouble?" Lana asked in a trembling tone.

Carol just smiled and shook her head.

"No, you're not in trouble. You may have broken the rules but you came to me when you messed up and that was the right thing to do. Plus, I figure getting hurt is punishment enough. I won't rat you out to your folks."

For the first time since she got in the house, Lana grinned and nestled herself closer into Carol's arms.

"Thanks, Carol."

"Don't thank me yet," Carol said with a laugh. "You know we'll have to clean up your knee with rubbing alcohol, right?"

She laughed again when Lana groaned at the pain that was sure to come from that. Meanwhile, as she got to the top step and made her way towards the bathroom, Lincoln was happy that Carol hadn't spotted him from his vantage point from beside the wall as he pressed against it and hoped not to be discovered.

As Lana and Carol went into the bathroom, Lincoln had to admit that once again, he was ready to pounce on Carol for not acting the way she should but was once again, proven wrong.

All the same, though, Lincoln refused to let Carol completely out of his sights. He knew that there was still more to come with his other sisters, especially if Lisa was up to something. There hadn't been a single "BOOM!" since Carol showed up and Lincoln figured it was only a matter of time until-

With a thunderous boom, the house rocked and smoke began to billow out from the crack underneath Lisa and Lily's room. Before he could do anything else, Carol bolted out of the bathroom, racing towards the scene of the incident.

"I heard booming!" Carol shouted as she sped past Lincoln without giving him a passing glance.

Lincoln followed behind her and stopped a few feet away as Carol opened the door and coughed and spluttered at the thick green smoke that poured out. Once Carol rushed inside, Lincoln poked his head in and surveyed the damage.

Lily, thankfully, was shielded underneath Lisa's fiberglass dome around her crib, one of Lisa's safety precautions in ensuring that her baby sister never got hurt when one of her experiments went awry. Lisa, on the other hand, though unfazed by the explosion, didn't escape without some damage.

"Lisa, are you alright?!" Carol asked panickily.

The diminutive scientist just brushed off the concern, along with the specks of debris that clung to her clothes.

"Yes, Carol, I have sustained no bodily harm, minus a few shallow cutaneous abrasions and some mild tinnitus. The usual."

"All the same, Lisa, I think it's time we put the chemicals away for now. I know it's not against the rules for you to be playing chemist on Fridays but still, you should do something a little…safer," Carol suggested with a wavering smile.

At that, Lisa shook her head.

"Sorry, Carol, I mustn't halt my progress for anything. I am _this_ close to developing the perfect truth serum. Then, I'll finally know who it was that stole my share of the Neapolitan ice cream."

Lincoln knew that Carol was in for it now. There was only one way to get Lisa away from an experiment and that was appealing to her ego. But surely, with just a few minutes with Lisa, there wasn't any possibly way that Carol would figure that ou-

"Saaaaaaay, Lisa?" Carol asked mischievously.

"Yes, Carol?" Lisa answered as stoically as ever.

"How smart are you exactly?"

Lisa grinned smugly. "How many four-year-olds with PhDs do you know?"

"Hmmm, good point," Carol said as she tapped her chin with her finger in "contemplation." So then, I guess you'd be smart enough to come tutor me with some history homework, on the Mexican-American War, that I brought with me? But help me after I'm done cleaning Lana up and getting her knee treated, okay? But that is…if you can do it. I don't wanna overwork that big brain of yours."

Lisa sighed, in a manner that Lincoln knew was full of condescension at the shortcomings of "creatures of such unremarkable prowess", as she liked to put it.

"I suppose my truth serum will have to wait," Lisa said with a sigh and went to clean up the mess her explosion made.

"Oh, Lisa, what ever would I do without you?" Carol "swooned" and walked out the room but not before stopping once she saw Lincoln.

"Hey, Lincoln," she greeted and continued on her merry way, heading back into the bathroom and leaving Lincoln completely stupefied.

In less than two hours, Carol had managed to not only deal with Lola's bratty ways with a smile and make Lucy feel like a person and not some ghost that wandered around and spooked everyone out their wits but she firmly but fairly dealt with Lana and managed to get Lisa away from potentially setting off more explosions.

That should've been it. That should've been the end of his little spy mission and he should've just let her go on her way without snooping from afar...

But he couldn't. No matter how unfair it might've been to do otherwise, he just couldn't leave Carol alone. Lori had to have been right about something; no way would she harshly tell off on someone like that and be wrong. Lori may have been quick to anger and slow to appease but one thing she never did was judge without a reasonable cause. Just because Lincoln hadn't found it yet didn't mean that it didn't exist. He had to get to the heart of the matter.

No matter what it took.

* * *

 _Later..._

"Where could she be? I thought I heard her going upstairs but she's nowhere in sight," Lincoln wondered aloud as he looked around the hallway for Carol.

It was close to 7:00 by now and after Lincoln returned to his "post", he could've sworn that Carol had come upstairs just now but upon leaving his room, he found nothing but the empty hallway. He stopped by the staircase and looked down to see if she was bustling about downstairs.

 _'Maybe she's watching TV?'_

"Psst…Lincoln?" a voice asked from behind.

"What's up?" Lincoln answered without turning around nor without giving the interloper much mind.

"What'cha doin'?"

"I'm looking for Carol so I can spy on her."

"Why?"

"I need to see if she's as perfect as everyone claims she is. So far, everything seems okay but we've still got plenty of time left to see if it's all just a ruse."

"Ah, I see," the voice responded understandingly. "But, uh, Lincoln?"

"Uh huh?"

"I think I can tell you where Carol is."

"Really? Where?"

"I'll give you a hint."

"And that is?"

"Look behind you."

Lincoln, again without realizing who it was that was talking to him, turned around…

And jumped back while clutching his heaving chest once he realized who it was.

"Carol!" he shouted.

"That's my name, don't…ah, you know the rest," Carol said and snickered, highly amused by Lincoln's frightened reaction.

"When did y-"

"I've had my eye out for you ever since you failed to convince me that you weren't up to something when you told me you were going to do your homework," Carol said as she crossed her arms and smirked.

Besides the dread at being caught, Lincoln also felt a complete sense of awe at how quickly Carol had been able to figure him out.

"You…you really _are_ good," Lincoln said in a hushed voice.

"That and you were kinda being obvious. At first, I thought you were watching me because you might've had a tiny little crush on me."

She giggled when Lincoln could only look away shyly and blush. She dropped the frivolity for a more serious tone.

"But nah, apparently, I'm an evil babysitter or something. Care to share where you got that idea from?"

Lincoln gulped as he saw Carol waiting expectantly an answer. He didn't want to be honest; even though all of this started when Lori had unintentionally indoctrinated him on the "evils" of Carol Pingrey, he didn't want to cause an even bigger rift to come between them once Carol realized that it was "all Lori's fault".

"Well…y-you know," Lincoln chuckled, "us kids and our wacky imaginations, y'know?"

Carol frowned. "Lincoln?"

"Y-yes?"

"You're doing that 'kinda being obvious' thing again. Try the _truth_ this time."

Lincoln sighed defeatedly, knowing that no matter what lie he'd tell Carol, she'd just see through it easily. Having no choice but to tell the truth now, Lincoln stepped forward until he was right in front of Carol.

"Well, Carol, you s-"

Before he could finish, he heard beeping. Looking up at Carol, she was seen glancing at her electronic wristwatch and clicking on a button on its side. Immediately, it stopped.

"And would you look at that?" Carol said. "It's 7:00. That means it's time for dinner. Go wash your hands and meet your sisters in the dining room. We'll talk about this later."

With that, she left Lincoln to knock on his sister's doors and tell them to come downstairs to eat dinner. While she did that, Lincoln felt himself getting worried about Carol all over again but now, instead of worrying about seeing her possibly flip her lid, he'd have to explain himself to her and hope that she wouldn't think less of him and most importantly, Lori.

The last thing he wanted was to make their apparent rivalry worse but as she headed to the bathroom to wash his hands as he was told, he couldn't help but feel as though that was exactly what was going to happen.

* * *

Lincoln and his sisters looked on as Carol finally entered the dining room.

Normally, they didn't eat at the "grown-up" table but according to Carol, her parents had allowed for it for the evening. Though Lincoln had his reservations about growing up too fast, he was still with familiar company so he didn't mind.

Now, all that was left to do was wonder what they would have for dinner.

"What're we having?" Lincoln asked Carol.

Before she could answer him, Lucy jumped in.

"I hope it's spaghetti. The marinara sauce reminds me of blood."

"Well, I hope it's steak," Lola interjected, "It's a feast fit for royalty."

"I'll just have what Charles is having," Lana said nonchalantly.

"I'd prefer an exquisite cuisine of pappardelle with sea urchin and cauliflower," Lisa requested. " _With_ apple juice."

"Poo poo!" Lily squealed from her highchair.

Carol shot down each hope with a shake of the head.

"Well, hate to break it to you all because we're not having any of that. Instead, your mom left you all some green bean casserole."

The children groaned simultaneously. No one had the heart to tell the Loud matriarch that her green bean casserole had a lot to be desired. Since no one gave her disapproval, apparently, she thought it would be a wonderful day to prepare it just for them.

Carol took in the reactions and laughed.

"Hey, hey, hey, settle down, everyone. I've got you all covered. See, I don't want your mom's cooking to go to waste so instead of you guys eating it, I will."

The siblings gasped in awe. Lisa, in particular, seemed to be the most moved by Carol's selfless deed.

"Never have I heard of such bravery since Jonas Salk used himself as a guinea pig for his polio vaccine. Carol, you are a commendable woman of the utmost valor. We will not forget you for your noble sacrifice."

"But wait," Lincoln interrupted, "what're we supposed to eat?"

Carol pulled out her cell phone and held it out for them while grinning triumphantly.

"Weeeeeell, why don't I call up a couple of friends of mine at the local pizzeria and see if they can help us out?" she playfully suggested.

The announcement sent the kids over the moon and soon, the room was filled with the sounds of resounding cheers.

Lincoln, specifically, while still a tad bit nervous about having to speak with Carol about his spying, was still jubilant all the same.

' _Okay, it's official, Carol Pingrey is awesome! And here I thought she might've been some kind of monster. Heh, wait'll Lori hears about this; she'll be more than happy to know that Carol's not bad, after all.'_

* * *

 _Meanwhile…_

"And here we are!" Lynn Sr. announced as Vanzilla drove by their final destination.

Everyone, besides a sulking Lori, looked out the window at the building to their left. It was rather large and looked about as expensive as any generic mansion they saw on TV or in magazines.

However, those were on TV and in magazines. Never had they been so up close to a prestigious building such as a Duke Hill Country Club so finally approaching such a landmark filled them with awe.

"Woah!" Luna said.

"Unreal!" Luan said.

"Awesome!" Lynn said.

"It's smaller than I thought," Leni said disappointingly, not realizing that because of their distance from the club, which was about a good fifty feet away, the building only _appeared_ smaller.

Soon after that, the family drove past the guard house, after Lynn Sr. showed off their visitor's passes that came with his invitation. Once done with the guard, he drove into the parking lot right out of the DHCC's main building. After spending a good two minutes looking for parking, he found them a spot about ten feet away from the building and parked. After that, he handed them all their visitor passes. With his attention still on his family, Lynn Sr. laid down the law.

"Alright, kids, here are the ground rules: I don't want you going anywhere around here except for the main building. There's plenty for you to do there so you shouldn't be bored. On top of that, there is to be absolutely no horseplay of any kind while we're here. I realize that you're all excited to be here but remember, this is a country club, not a jungle gym. This is a once in a life time opportunity and if we can show how well we can behave, perhaps I can convince my boss to let us come around again sometime."

"No prob, Pop," Luna said. "We'll keep a lid on the crazy."

"I trust that you will, Luna, buuuuuuut as always, we'll have Lori looking after you just to be sure that the crazy remains lidded."

At hearing her name, Lori perked up from her self-pitying and scowled as everyone looked expectantly at her.

' _Who? Me? Why bother with imperfect little ol' Lori? Why not give Carol Pingrey a call? I'm sure she can just swoop down here and replace me. Y'know, like you already have?'_

"Yeah, fine. Whatever, I guess," Lori sighed.

"Uh…great," Lynn Sr. said apprehensively at his daughter's despondency. "So, while I take your mother along with me to chat with my co-workers, you kids have a blast. But remember, meet us at the dining hall by 8:30 for some grub. We need to be out of here by 9:00 so we can make it back home by 10:30 and pay Carol P-"

Before he could finish, Rita raised her hand up in a pinching motion and glared at her husband while he shielded his ear reflexively with his hands.

"Okay, okay, I'm not trying anymore!" Lynn Sr. grumbled as he got out the car.

The spousal antics got a laugh from everyone, besides of course, from Lori.

"Bye, kids! Listen to Lori while we're gone, alright?" Rita said and left the van to catch up with her husband.

"'Kay, Mom!" the kids, minus Lori, said in unison.

With their parents gone, everyone gave their undivided attention to Lori, who just kicked at the seat in front of her softly without paying her onlookers any mind.

"Sooooooo…" Luan began, not knowing what to say to break the awkward silence

"You, uh, need us to do anything?" Lynn cut in, hoping to stir Lori into action so they could move on without delay.

"Do whatever you want. I literally couldn't care less," Lori groused.

With that, she exited the van, leaving her sisters behind to lament on Lori's situation as their elder sister walked somberly away.

"Man, she's more bummed out than I thought. I can't enjoy myself knowing that Lori's all depressed and junk," Luna grumbled.

"It's my fault she's like this," Leni said softly and sadly. "I shouldn't have yelled at her like that."

Luna put an assuring hand on Leni's shoulder and shook her head.

"Nah, you were right, Leni. Lori needed a swift kick in the keister for trashing Carol like that."

"But still," Lynn said, "it really bites seeing her all mopey and sad. Seriously, it's freaking me out and I have Lucy as a roommate for crying out loud."

It was at that moment that Luna knew what they all had to do. It would sacrifice their time for themselves but family always came first.

"Then you know what we gotta do, right, sisters? We gotta bring her out of the blues!" Luna insisted.

"But she likes wearing blue," replied a confused Leni. "She, like, does it all the time."

Luan facepalmed. "No, Leni, it means we should cheer her up. Y'know, like all my jokes usually do when you guys are down."

"Yeaaaaaaah, Luan," Lynn chortled weakly while looking from side-to-side. "Juuuuust like your jokes."

"So, what do you suggest we do?" Leni asked Luna.

"I dunno what's gonna bring her out of her funk," Luna admitted, "but I think that we should all try and figure out what that thing is. So, we have an hour and a half to enjoy ourselves. With that time, each one of us should be in charge of taking Lori along with us to brighten her mood up a bit, y'know? Like, I'll take Lori for a little bit and then Luan can take over and so on and so forth until we lift her spirits up."

Luna looked around and found no objecting faces. But just to be sure they were on the same page, Luna reached out her hand towards them, palm downward.

"So…what'd you say?"

"Not a bad plan of attack," Lynn said as she stacked her hand on top of Luna's. "I like it."

"I'm game if you are," Luan chimed in, bringing her hand into the pile, too.

"Anything for Lori," Leni said with determination and completed the verbal gesture of camaraderie.

Now, united under their solemn pact, they exchanged unwavering glances with one another. Nothing in the world would keep them from making Lori happy again. _Nothing_.

"Good," Luna said with a cocky smirk. "Let's rock n' roll."


	4. Chapter 4

Knowing the clock was ticking against them, Luna left her sisters, to initiate their plan to cheer Lori up, as she walked towards the DHCC main building to look for Lori. Just before she could get inside, she stopped in her tracks when she spotted some brochures that were stacked in a little kiosk right outside the sliding doors. Then, once she walked up to it and grabbed one of the pamphlets, she flipped through the pages and found a list of all the activities that the country club had to offer their visitors.

She frowned. None of them sounded perfect enough to start with. Tennis? Indoor rugby? Swimming? Yeah, they didn't look bad at first glance but what exactly was she supposed to go with first? Maybe…maybe something that would let her get her mind off Carol? But then again, if the idea of showing up here in the first place couldn't get Lori to be happy, that seemed like a rather foolish endeavor.

It was then, in her frustrated stupor, that a new idea for a plan came to her, one that made her grin. Instead of wandering aimlessly in the dark for a quick-fix to Lori's angst, they would use the primary source of it, Carol Pingrey, to their advantage by letting Lori vent her frustrations out and then, once she was mellowed and worn out, let the therapeutic luxuries of the DHCC soothe and pacify her. Hopefully, by the end of this new operation, all her troubles would melt away and she wouldn't feel so bummed out anymore.

Satisfied with her new course of action, Luna quickly texted her plan to Luan, Lynn, and Leni, who responded with acquiescence.

It would all play out like this: Luna would start by revving Lori up a bit with a few brisk but active rounds of tennis. Afterwards, Lynn would continue down the path of venting and supervise Lori as she continued to "let it all out" by wailing against a punching bag at their indoor gym. From there, Luan would take over by taking Lori to a steam bath which, from what she once heard, was a great way to loosen up muscles and soothe. Finally, Leni would finish up with a trip to the spa where she'd have Lori under the care of their masseuses.

Once she put her brochure away, she looked up and through the glass of the doors, saw Lori, in the near distance, weaving her past some people, almost as if she was in a hurry to go somewhere. Making haste, Luna ran inside after her, paying no heed to the disapproving looks some of the employees and strangers were giving her for her almost reckless speed; Lori was all that mattered.

Finally, after about a minute, she caught up with her, grabbing her firmly by the elbow.

"Hey, Lori, pump the brakes would ya?" Luna asked, waiting for a response from a now unmoving Lori.

An uneasy pang, almost like a cramp, clenched in Luna's gut as Lori turned to face her. It was just the same as before but only worse; Lori's face…it was devoid of any sort of emotion. She didn't look sad or irritated. It was as if she didn't have any semblance of humanity on her at all. It almost made Luna feel nauseous.

"What is it, Luna?" Lori asked.

Remembering the reason for all of this, Luna put on the brightest of smiles that she could, hoping that her cheery look could coax Lori into playing along.

"Come on, dude, put the 'tude to bed and let's have some fun!"

Her grin began to falter when Lori just stared back at her with her blank, expressionless eyes. After a few beats of silence, Lori spoke up, saying, "Luna, I want to show you something."

She pointed at the tile floor beneath their feet.

"See this floor?"

Luna nodded, not knowing where Lori was going with this.

"I want nothing more than to literally stare at it for the duration of this visit. Now, I'm going to say this as politely as possible."

She leaned in closer to Luna, her eyes narrowed.

" _Buzz._ _Off_."

With that, Lori stood off to the side of the hallway they were standing in, doing what she aimed to do and just stare at the floor.

Luna shook her head. This just wouldn't do at all. It was then that she realized that she would have to resort to something that she had taught Lynn how to do a long time ago. Now, at fifteen, the idea didn't sound dignifying but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Letting out a soft, puppy-like whimper, Luna put on her best "sad puppy-dog eyes face" she could muster, waiting for Lori to take notice. When she did, to her relief, Lori looked like she was slowly but surely caving in.

' _Aaaaaaaaany second now.'_

It took one last whimper for Lori to finally crack as she huffed in irritation and walked over to her, her arms folded and her lips locked in her signature scowl.

"Ugh, fine. What do you want to do?"

* * *

"Tennis? Seriously, Luna, this is your idea of a good time?"

"Well, not normally but in this case, I can make an exception for the best big sister ever!"

"Whatever. Can we get done with this soon? I have a floor to stare at."

Sighing, Lori, with her tennis racket in hand, moseyed over to her end of the indoor tennis court, which thankfully, was devoid of anyone else. Dealing with the insignificant chatter of strangers, along with Luna's annoying insistence of trying to get her to do something other than wallow in her self-pity, would be too much to bear.

It wasn't as if she didn't appreciate the gesture and all but she just didn't think any of this mattered in the end. Right now, Carol Pingrey was digging her talons into her personal life, ripping away any part that she would have in her own family by upstaging her. She could see it now; once they returned, her little siblings would clamor on and on about how Carol was the best babysitter that they ever had and of course, since Leni, Luna, Luan, and Lynn didn't seem to think that Carol was all that bad, either, they'd probably agree.

They wouldn't care that she was being shunned or rejected by her own family for someone that they barely knew. Why would they? They'd realize that she could never measure up to Carol and either a. try to contact Carol for future babysitting bookings whenever they could on first instinct or b. lament that their only real choice was Lori, someone that they had deemed worthless in the face of perfection.

Fine, there was no use fighting it now. It was going to happen whether she liked it or not so she might as well get this stupid game of tennis done so she could be left alone, alone from the people who looked like they cared for her but wouldn't once the night was all said and done.

"What're we playing to?" Lori called out to Luna, who was drawing a score of "0 – 0" on the dry eraser board behind her side of the court with red marker.

"How about…best 2 out of 3?" Luna said when she finished, taking her spot on the court after she grabbed a nearby tennis ball from a cage that was full of them.

"Sure, I guess."

With the rules set, all that was left to do was begin the game. Serving the ball with a soft underhand stroke, Luna watched as the tennis ball bounced over to Lori's side…

Without Lori giving chase to the ball at all to return serve.

Grumbling under her breath, Luna walked up to the scoreboard and changed the score.

"That's 15 – Love, love," Luna called out, waiting for Lori to throw the ball over so she could get started with her serve.

Once she did, Luna hit the ball over, this time much lighter than before, hoping that Lori could take the easy serve without a problem.

Again, Lori looked on indifferently as the ball moved past her, not even bothering to move from the spot that her feet were planted onto.

Not even bothering to change the score, a clearly vexed Luna called out, "30 – Love. Come on, Lori, move your feet."

This was the exact opposite of what Lori was supposed to be doing! She couldn't vent if she didn't move around enough to get her blood pumping.

Once she got the ball again, Luna tried an even softer serve and as a result, the ball barely made it over the net. As expected, Lori didn't budge.

Luna nearly tossed her racket down angrily as a frustrated growl ripped harshly through her throat.

"40 – Love, Lori. Seriously, Lori, I've seen geezers at my concerts move with more fire than that. The point of tennis is to _move_."

Luna's heart sank when the needling barb did nothing to motivate Lori at all as she cast her that awful, blank stare from earlier.

She panicked. _'This is nuts! Is she really that narked about Pingrey that she can't even…wait a second…that's it!'_

Rushing back to the eraser board again, Luna took the red marker from earlier and ran back to the court to grab the tennis ball that was still on Lori's side of the court.

"Um, what're you doing?" Lori asked impassively.

"Just making the game more interesting," Luna answered, snatching up the tennis ball and running back to her side of the court.

Lori just shrugged as she watched her little sister scribbling on the tennis ball with the marker, not caring in the slightest what she was doing.

When Luna was finished, Lori waited for the first round of tennis to conclude as quickly as possible as with the last three serves, she planned on doing absolutely nothing to hit the ball back. What surprised her was that this time, Luna smacked the ball harder than she had before, prompting Lori to actually pay attention and get focused on her surroundings, lest the speeding ball hit her.

When the ball bounced over to her side, Lori's eyes widened in surprise when she spotted something peculiar on the green coating.

The image was fleeting but just before the ball spun around, Lori could've sworn that on the tennis ball, was a rough sketch of…of…

Carol Pingrey's face.

Without thinking, Lori grit her teeth in exertion and swung the tennis racket with all of her might at the ball.

It hit dead center and it sailed through the air until it bounced over to Luna's side. Luna quickly returned serve, whacking it back and looking in gleefully as once again, Lori hit it back. This continued for several minutes and all the while, Luna could think of nothing but how everything was working out. From the looks of things, Lori was finally letting go of her anger. She could feel Lori's ire pour out of her with each hardy thwack of her swing against the tennis ball.

Finally, after about another ten minutes, a panting Luna finally had enough. Although Lori had won their two out of three series minutes ago, she insisted on simply hitting the ball back and forth for a good while but now, Luna had reached her limit. Besides, it was just about time for Lynn to take over anyways.

"Man," Luna wheezed as she glanced up at an amped up Lori, "what a workout. Alright, Lori, that's good. I'll just put our rackets away and-"

" _ **NOOOOOO! LORI WANT CAROL! LORI WANT TO BREAK HER FACE IN! MORE TENNIS! MORE TENNIS!"**_

Luna reeled back in shock and she hurriedly pulled up her phone out of her skirt pocket. Without tearing her eyes away from Lori, who was ranting and foaming at the mouth, Luna dialed Lynn's number and pressed the phone up to the side of her head.

"Hello, Lynn? Yeah, I think Lori's ready for Phase 2. Just a little heads up, though, I…really wound her up. Like _, a lot_."

* * *

"Lynn, let me go! I need tennis! I need to-"

"Yeah, yeah, I got you, Lori but listen, you're gonna love this a heck of a lot more than tennis. Trust me."

Lynn had to admit, Luna had not exaggerated one bit about Lori being hyped up. Once she walked over there and found Lori repeatedly smacking some oddly-colored tennis ball against the wall, it took all her strength to haul Lori away by the arm until at last, they made it inside of the gym.

Not trusting Lori not to break free and run away, Lynn dragged her past the cardio equipment until they made it into a corner of a gym where a few weights, jump ropes, punching gloves, and a large blue punching bag resided.

Lynn looked up at Lori and thought that she looked inquisitive enough about her surroundings to trust her not to escape. With that in mind, Lynn reached over and picked up a pair of blue gloves, ones that replicated the gloves that MMA fighters would generally wear.

"Here, slip these on," Lynn said as she handed off the gloves to Lori, who did as she asked without objection.

Then, Lynn motioned over to the punching bag.

"I'm pretty sure you know what this is, right? It's a staple in every gym and a great way to relieve stress."

A crazed, toothy grin spread across Lori's face.

"Stress?" she parroted almost manically. "I-I might have a little s-stress. Y'know? Just a _teeeeeeeeeeny_ bit."

Lynn chuckled nervously at her reaction. She needed way more help than she first thought.

"You don't say?" Lynn said sarcastically. "Well, what helps is if you have the right motivation to get rid of it."

"Moti…" Lori trailed off, tilting her head to the side, "…vation?"

Lynn nodded. "That's right, now you're getting it. So, listen up, the key to every punching bag stress relief exercise is to visualize what's causing the stress in the first place. Make a mental image of whatever it is that's really bugging you onto the bag and then, once you're wailing on the bag, you'll be beating your stress down into submission. Make sense?"

Lori gave her a tiny nod, knowing exactly what was expected of her now.

"Good. Now then…"

Lynn took her spot behind the punching bag and grabbed firmly onto it. She peered from behind it and said, "I'll stand behind the bag and keep it in place while you go to town. Give 'er all you got, Lori!"

Taking a deep breath, Lori strode over to the bag, stopping when she was an arm's length away. She could feel her limbs aching slightly from her tennis exploits and her clothes clung onto her damp skin from the sweat that her previous exercise had accumulated. It was enough to nearly make her relent.

Still, the idea of punching Carol's face in, even though it was symbolic rather than literal, was enough to get her to fall in line with Lynn.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, Lori shut her eyes, forcing her mind to conjure up the mental picture of her hated self-professed rival. When she opened them, there, plastered on the bag, was an apparition-like image of Carol Pingrey's proud, smug face, floating right in front of the bag.

Reeling her arm back, Lori cocked her fist and gave the bag a swift but hard jab, grunting as her padded fist hit the leather.

"Yeah, that's it!" Lynn praised.

Lori smirked, the rush of adrenaline coaxing her to take another swing, this time, a left hook that collided with the side of "Carol's" cheek.

"Keep it up, Lori!" Lynn coached.

Though "Carol's" face didn't react at all to her blow, Lori couldn't care less. She was having the time of her life!

She ignored her throbbing arms as she landed another hook, this time, with her right arm as it crushed "Carol's" nose under her punch. The bag swayed slightly from the blow, the chain creaking as it held strong to the abused bag.

"Give that bag the business!" Lynn cried out.

And give it the business, Lori did. Though her punches were untrained and unfocused, Lori wasn't in the mood for accuracy. She just wanted to punch that bag over and over and over and over and over…

" _Aw, what's the matter, Lori? C'mon, I thought you hated me. Is this really the best you can do?"_

Lori's eyes widened and she stopped her next left jab cold before it could connect.

No…no, it couldn't be.

She blinked furiously and almost gasped when the floating Carol head grinned smugly at her, reveling in the insult that Lori just heard her spit out at her.

Lori's fright soon gave in under the heat of "Carol's" cocky, challenging glare and she began seething with bubbling rage.

She thought _that_ was all she had?! She hadn't seen anything yet!

With a mighty grunt, Lori slammed her fist into" Carol's" face with yet another strong right hook with more force than she was using before.

She smirked in triumph. Good. Maybe now, Carol would think twice before she-

" _Of course, your punches would be second rate. After all, that's what you've always been."_

Inconceivable! "Carol's" face remained unfazed as it tauntingly grinned at Lori, daring her to try and actually do damage this time.

Lori, whose frustration was building up more and more by the second, ignored reason and punched the bag again with a straight punch that left her own arm hurting more than the bag.

Once again, "Carol" didn't flinch at all.

" _I wonder what embarrassing stuff I can find in your room? You did remember to lock your door before you left, right?"_

Lori replied with another wild punch.

" _Oh, look, I'm Lori Loud and I'm literally the plainest Jane on planet Earth!"_

Jab.

" _So, how much do you pay Bobby not to gag when you two PDA?"_

Hook.

" _Don't feel too bad about losing the Homecoming Queen title to me. After all, it wasn't like you stood a chance against me."_

Straight.

" _The only thing that weighs more than you is the crushing weight of your failures every time you try to measure up to me."_

Cross.

" _Could you quit scowling like that? It makes small children have nightmares. Then again, it's not like your face doesn't do that on default."_

Uppercut.

Each time "Carol" would taunt her, Lori threw restraint out the window to punch at the bag, ignoring the pain that soared through her arms and lower back with each crazy blow.

Veins popped out of her neck and forehead, her face took on a boiling lobster red color, sweat rolled down her forehead, and her breath came out in uneven, ragged puffs but Lori blocked out the pain and discomfort as she only had one objective in mind: shutting Carol Pingrey up once and for all, whether her body agreed with it or not.

Lynn, who watched all of this going on in concern, spoke up as she gripped the swaying bag with all she had.

"Lori?! Take it easy, would you?! You're supposed to be relieved, not even more stressed out! Don't take it so far!"

Lori, amidst her punching frenzy, could only slightly pick up one what Lynn was saying and by the sounds of it, "Carol" had her own say on the matter, as well.

" _You heard her, Lori, take it easy. Why struggle? What's the point? I'm always one step ahead of you and always will be. Take your spot in the land of mediocrity and just accept yourself as the #2 that you are. But then again, I suppose you do have something to fight for. After all, once I'm done wrapping your family around my little finger, they'll realize that you're only second best to me, too."_

It was that last personal jab that did it. Lori stopped in her tracks, reeling her left fist back before another blow could hit its mark. Unlike all the other things that "Carol" had taunted her about, which were all petty jabs, this one hit home the hardest.

And not only because of what she said but who had said it.

Her greatest fears were coming true and to make matters worse, "Carol" was going to do everything she could to actively make it happen.

Meanwhile, Lynn watched as Lori's head drooped down, her arms hanging limply by her sides as her body shook.

"L-Lori?"

Ignoring her sister's concern, all Lori could do was feel pity swelling up inside of her again. She was forced into submission by "Carol" and…

No. Absolutely not.

She looked up at "Carol" and growled as she did nothing but smirk at her. Even if what Carol was saying was true, even if Carol was going to try and win her family over to spite her, she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Leave…"

" _And who knows? Maybe they'll replace you with me. I mean, who needs Lori Loud when they can have Carol "Perfect" Pingrey?"_

"My family…"

" _But then again, I suppose I'd have to change that to Carol "Perfect" Loud. Nice ring to it, don't you think?"_

" _ **ALOOOOOOOOOOONE!"**_

Charging at the bag with everything that she had, Lori fired out a rapid flurry of punches that made the punching bag sway and lurch more than it ever did. Lynn grunted as the last punch that Lori threw knocked her onto the floor from the bag colliding painfully into her. From the floor, she watched in horror as Lori's flayed at the bag with animalistic rage, not minding the crowd that began to form around her as they looked on at her display.

Unbeknownst to them, the chain's hook in the ceiling was beginning to loosen with each of Lori's heavy blows to the bag it was keeping suspended.

Then, everything happened at once. After one last right hook from Lori, the chain finally gave in and it fell out of its hook. At the second it did, the bag had swung away from Lori and was coming towards her with blinding speed. Before she could move away, her tired limbs making it next to impossible, the bag sailed into her, knocking her into the floor and causing her head to bounce painfully against the floor.

Lynn quickly scrambled to her feet and pushed her way through the crowd of people that were surrounding her until she could see Lori. She rushed to her side in a panic, heaved the heavy bag off her, and gasped.

Lori, who had a sizeable lump against the side of her head, was knocked out cold.


	5. Chapter 5

Lincoln sat on the living room couch, nervously playing with a lock of his hair as he waited for Carol to come back downstairs to talk with him like she wanted to do before dinner time crept up on them. After eating his share of the two large cheese pizzas, Lincoln dutifully sat where he was asked to wait. Meanwhile, his sisters all went upstairs to change into their pajamas like Carol wanted them to do and waited in their rooms for her to summon them back downstairs for the game she brought over.

Apparently, they were good enough to earn that privilege but Lincoln didn't feel like a "good little boy" himself. He had unfairly scrutinized Carol before getting the chance to know her and as a result, probably hurt her feelings in the process. Once she found out what he was up to.

Suddenly, he heard the stairs creaking as a pair of footsteps trundled down them.

"Well, I got little Lily to bed. Thankfully, she's way more chill than other babies I've had to watch over."

He looked up and felt his heart sink. Sure enough, it was Carol, heading towards him with a look on her face that didn't appear malicious. In fact, it appeared that she was actually happy to be around him. It only made Lincoln feel worse.

How could he ever think anything of Carol but as a helpful, genuinely kind babysitter who just wanted the best for him and his sisters?

She took her spot next to him and Lincoln flinched, looking away and hoping that he could disappear.

"Lincoln?" he heard Carol ask concernedly.

He didn't speak. He couldn't speak. Not because he physically couldn't but because he knew what she wanted. She wanted the truth and the truth was, Lori had been the one to get the ball rolling with her fearmongering and since he had a feeling that Lori had the wrong impression of Carol, from what he saw of her tonight, then he liked the idea of them making up and being friends.

But that would be impossible if she knew what Lori had said about it. It probably wasn't anything that she hadn't heard from her before but still, he didn't like the prospect of fortifying what was sure to be mutual animosity.

His internal conflict etched prominently on his face enough for Carol to place a hand in comfort on his shoulder.

"Lincoln, you don't need to look like you're in detention, y'know. I'm not angry with you."

"I know," Lincoln whispered, his eyes trained on the wall.

"Then why the long face?"

Moments of silence passed and Lincoln could feel the tangible tenseness of the situation bog him down further in his seat and prompting him not to say another word. He couldn't lie his way out of this one, not with Carol's sharp perception to pierce through his fabrications. All he could do now was wait it out and hope that Carol would lose interest.

His prayers were answered after another minute of silence passed.

"I'm sorry. Look, if you don't want to tell me, you don't have to tell me. I was just curious about where you got the idea that I'd be some kind of dictator from."

It wasn't the really the words themselves that caused Lincoln to turn around and take a peek at Carol but the _way_ she said them.

He had to choke back a sharp gasp but his stunned expression remained where it was. Lincoln had never seen Carol look so dejected before. That wasn't saying much considering that he didn't know her all that well but still, her upbeat, on-her-toes persona was the complete antithesis of whatever this was.

Right now, she looked like her cat had run away or a significant other broke up with her over the phone. But what made Lincoln feel bad about it was that for some reason, she felt like she was in the wrong for just wanting to know where Lincoln's wild assumptions came from.

That wasn't fair and after putting up with him and his nonsense without getting indignant or furious, Lincoln felt that she had the right to know.

"Wait, Carol."

Before Carol could get up, Lincoln's words coaxed to sit back down and give Lincoln her undivided attention.

Lincoln, fidgeting and all, looked up at Carol and meekly said, "I'll…I'll tell you."

Without wasting any time, Lincoln went on to explain everything to Carol. He told her all about Lori's harsh words abut her, her attempts at getting Carol to stay away, and most important, how her opinion had swayed Lincoln to err on the side of caution once she had finally arrived, hence all of his behavior towards her.

Lincoln hadn't really been paying attention to Carol's reaction to his story but once his retelling was over, he had a good idea on what it was and it was surprising, to say the least.

"I see," Carol said, "This is…rather shocking, actually."

Lincoln blinked. How could that be? Surely, she must've known that Lori harbored some vitriol towards her.

His confusion manifested in the form of a befuddled "What?", which got Carol to chuckle, despite everything that she had heard.

"I mean, I knew that Lori didn't like me but…wow. That's quite an eye-opener. I never thought she hated me _that_ much."

"So, hold on, you mean that you really had no idea that Lori despised you on that level?" Lincoln asked, now getting curious.

Carol shook her head, her long hair swishing about.

"Nope. I don't have a grudge against the girl or anything but she's not someone that I would call a friend. Truth be told, I wanted things to be like that but I guess it was just one of those things that wasn't meant to be."

Carol Pingrey and Lori Loud? _Friends?!_ The idea seemed impossible. Ludicrously impossible! Lincoln liked to think he wasn't anything like his sisters, all gossipy and meddling, but he just _had_ to know how Carol could've considered Lori as a good candidate for a friend.

Surely, they had to have been on good terms at _some_ point.

Leaning in, almost conspiratorially, Lincoln asked, "What happened between you and Lori that led you to where you are now? Is it about you winning the title of Homecoming Queen and not her?"

"Nah, I think our beef, or at least, her beef with me, started way before Homecoming."

Without missing a beat, Carol smiled knowingly as she took in Lincoln's expectant gaze.

"You wanna hear the story about us, don't you?"

She giggled when he nodded vigorously.

"Well…okay then but I want you to promise me something, okay?"

"What's that?"

Her face took on a solemn edge to it now, eliciting Lincoln to give heed to her imminent words.

"Don't think any less of Lori after I'm done. We may have our problems but she's a good person."

Lincoln nodded. That would be easy enough. He knew that Lori was far from perfect but then again, so was everyone else. What right did he have to judge just because Carol's tale wouldn't cast Lori in the most flattering light?

"Don't worry, Carol. I won't," Lincoln promised, making an "X" across the left side of his chest with his finger.

With that, Carol cleared her throat as Lincoln got himself more comfortable, leaning his head against the headrest and stretching out. Thankfully, he wasn't tall enough to drape across Carol.

"It all started in the tenth grade. I had just moved from my old hometown of Green Bay, Wisconsin to Royal Woods, Michigan about two months into the school year. When I officially transferred to Royal Woods High, my parents wanted me to shadow someone so I could get the gist of the school and not feel swept away from my new surroundings. I agreed with them since, y'know, moving from state to state can be pretty intimidating. New state, new town, new people; it can really work one's nerves over."

"It was Lori, wasn't it? The one that you shadowed?" Lincoln interjected.

"Yep. She volunteered to do it herself. At first, I thought she was doing it to be friendly but after we left the principal's office, she told me, with brutal honesty, that the only reason that she volunteered was because she wanted credit hours.

Then, she let me know that she wasn't interested in being friends with me but that she wouldn't be against the idea if she warmed up to me. To be honest, you may think that's a bit mean but I liked that she was being real with me. It's refreshing to hear people tell you like it is instead of tiptoeing around their real feelings just to keep up appearances or to not offend you. Plus, she wasn't being malicious or snobby about it, so that really left a big impression on me."

Lincoln couldn't help but smile. That definitely sounded like Lori alright. Brash to a fault but honest when it counted.

"Anyways," Carol continued, "by the end of the day, I no longer felt like a fish out of water and it was all thanks to Lori. See, it wasn't the new classes, teachers, or overall curriculum that made me nervous. No, no, it was getting involved with so many new students. I barely had any friends in Wisconsin and leaving them all behind, to get dumped in the middle of such an unfamiliar crowd, didn't sit well with me."

Getting a bit antsy from the lack of anything "juicy" so far, Lincoln asked, a tinge of impatience in his voice, "How did Lori make things easier for you?"

Carol gave him a smirk and reached over to tussle his hair.

"Be patient, Lincoln. I was getting there."

She laughed at how flustered he got for being caught and leaned back in her seat.

"See, as I was shadowing her, I got to feel what it was like to walk a mile in her shoes. I saw all the friends she had and her positive reception with teachers and students alike. It felt…invigorating. The status that Lori had, I wanted it for myself. I liked feeling invincible, unafraid of making unintentional enemies by getting on anyone's bad side because I knew that it'd be impossible for me to make them.

But more than that, I realized that someone as cool and kind as Lori Loud was someone that I wanted to be friends with."

For the first time since her story began, Carol's expression drooped into one of sullen sadness as she looked down into her lap.

"But then, my hopes were dashed when she reminded me about what she told me at the beginning of the day."

Lincoln immediately recalled what Carol had said before and asked, "You mean about her not wanting to be friends with you unless she warmed up to the idea?"

Carol nodded weakly. "Uh-huh. I didn't exactly earn that longing from her and it's not hard to see why. I was acting like a wallflower all day, so it wasn't like I was tempting her to make the leap, y'know?"

She looked to Lincoln, now sporting a small smile.

"But then, she told me some advice that would change our relationship for the worst. Of course, I didn't know where it would all lead to in the end but still, she never told it to me so I could wind up being a pain in the butt. That was _my_ fault."

Lincoln was rather curious about that last comment but knowing that Carol would get to it eventually, asked, "What did she say?"

"She told me that if I wanted to make fast friends, I should do what she did and join a few clubs so I that could mingle with a bunch of different people with common interests and form friendships. It made sense and yeah, I had a few clubs in mind, but still, Lori was an anchor. She was familiar, she was _safe_. I wanted to be around that as much as possible.

So, that's when I…I…"

A faint blush glowed across Carol's cheeks as she rubbed the back of her neck, a shy, goofy grin spread across her face all the while.

"Gosh, this is embarrassing."

Lincoln just waited for her to get over herself before she could finish.

"I, um, stalked her, so to speak. Once I learned that she was a part of the Recycling Club, I signed up for it. But, it didn't stop there. After I found out about her other clubs, I joined those, too; the Debate Team, the Yoga Club, the Cinema Club, and finally, the Jewelry Club. The only one that I really cared for was the Recycling Club but that didn't matter because I was with Lori. I didn't have the nerve to talk to her, though, both because I didn't know how to approach her and because I got the feeling that she knew what I was up to; the angry stares kinda sold that point.

Anyways, to make a long story just a tad bit shorter, I wound up making friends _besides_ Lori in all those clubs because eventually, I just decided to stop being chicken and quit treating unfamiliar students like aliens that wanted to probe me just because I was new. I got sick of feeling isolated by my own anxiety and since Lori wasn't fond of me, what did I have to lose by getting out of little comfort zone?

Nothing, as it turns out, except for the chance to be friends with Lori. Apparently, and this is just my guess, I was moseying in on "her turf" by talking with _her_ friends and by mingling with _her_ people. Guess she felt that I was trying to replace her or whatever. I dunno, us high schoolers can be weird when it comes to socializing."

Lincoln felt that he was beginning to see the bigger picture in all of this. While on the surface, what Carol did was innocuous enough, knowing Lori as well as he did, she was very, very possessive over things that she deemed hers.

Her phone, her room, her family…anything that Lori had, she wanted to enforce her ownership any chance she got. That included her responsibilities at home, too.

It made sense that Lori would hold Carol in contempt for moving in on "her territory".

If Lincoln were honest, he felt like he could've just stopped asking questions here. He got a good sense as to why Lori didn't like Carol but there was still one stone that remained unturned.

"And when you won Homecoming Queen, I guess that just made things worse between you two, right?"

Carol laughed. "Like you wouldn't believe. See, at first, I never thought that I would ever be nominated for the Royal Court but as it turns out, Lori, myself, and two other seniors were nominated for Homecoming Queen and I just went along with it, not even expecting to win. But, as it turns out, once the votes from the student body were cast and counted, I _did_ win and Lori was not happy about it."

Then, in a gesture that Lincoln would've never guessed, Carol shrank in her seat a bit in shame as she bit her bottom lip.

"Of course, it didn't help that I rubbed it in her face."

Lincoln spluttered, nearly choking on his own saliva.

"You did what?!"

Another blush danced across Carol's face.

"Noooooooot exactly my proudest moment, I'll admit. See, once they put the sash and crown on me, I looked through the crowd of cheering students and saw Lori, giving me the biggest death glare I've ever seen in my life.

But see, by now, I was no longer a fangirl for her. I had my own friends and my own rep that I earned without licking her boots. Since it was clear that she didn't like me, I felt confident enough to stick to her. Y'know, let her know that I wasn't going to act all meek and subservient to her, especially when I never went out of my way to intentionally antagonize her.

So, as I was waving and blowing kisses, my eyes locked with Lori's and I give her this knowing, cocky smile. As soon as she saw it, she glared at me and stormed out of the gymnasium. To be honest, it felt really good to get under her skin like that but days after it all played out, I couldn't help but feel guilty. After all, what business did I have acting like Lori was being petty if I was just going to stoop to her level?

But despite feeling bad about it, I also didn't feel like apologizing since I knew that she wouldn't want to hear me out on it anyways. Plus, I never got the impression that she wanted to apologize for giving me the cold shoulder for two years over nothing. So, in the end, we continued to where we are today; me doing my best to avoid her and with her doing the same for me. Of course, from what you told me, I guess it was a lot harder for her since, unlike me, I don't have any hatred at all."

Sighing wearily, Carol stood up, folding out the creases from her skirt as Lincoln watched.

"And well, that's the story. I'm sorry if it didn't have enough dragons, robots, and monsters. I know how you boys like that kind of stuff. Anyways, it's getting close to 8:30. I'd say you've been a good boy, so you get to join your sisters for my game. So, get upstairs and get changed. I'll call you all down once I get it set up, okay?"

Nodding, Lincoln got up, ready to do as he was told before he stopped and noticed that Carol looked down in the dumps, much like she did before she told her story and he supposed that it made sense. While Carol didn't pull any punches with her tale, that meant that she had dragged herself in the mud a bit, too.

While Lincoln didn't feel like he could do anything to relieve her of the guilt of her mockery towards Lori, he could at least reassure her of the promise that he had sworn to keep.

"Carol?"

She looked up. "Yeah?"

"I don't think less of Lori. And also…"

He headed towards the stairs and paused before his foot reached out for the bottom step. Then, he turned to her, smiling.

"I don't think less of you, either."

Carol returned the smile and just before Lincoln could depart, she called out to him teasingly.

"You totally have a crush on me, don't you?" she cooed while batting her eyelashes.

Lincoln eyes widened as he felt heat swarming over his entire face as if it had been flooded by molten lava.

"I-It's not like that!" Lincoln protested indignantly as he scrambled away up the stairs, nearly tripping over his feet.

His reaction only got Carol to snicker as she replied with, "Whatever you say, Lincoln."


	6. Chapter 6

For the second time for that day, Lori found her wearily waking up from unconsciousness. Though her head throbbed with pangs of discomfort and wooziness prevented her from seeing straight through her lidded eyes, she could most certainly hear a voice calling out to her.

"Lori!" it exclaimed.

Groaning, Lori loftily touched her forehead where it hurt the most and hissed. That was definitely a lump and as she tenderly felt it up, her eyes opened more and she found herself surrounded from all sides by four silhouettes that were shrouded under a veil of blinding light.

"Am I…am I dead?" she croaked.

Her question didn't give her an immediate answer. Instead, she felt a pair of arms wrap tightly around her. That jolted her out of her lethargy and her newfound clarity made her realize where she was; she was sitting on the floor, leaning against a hallway as Leni, the person who had reached out to her, hugged her protectively. She peered over Leni's shoulder and saw her other three younger sisters looking on with relief.

Lori smiled and returned the hug. "Guess that answers my question."

"Lori?"

Lynn, who had timidly spoke, had her head bowed as she rubbed at her arm with her other hand, a nonverbal tic that exemplified her shame.

"I'm…sorry. I was just trying to make you feel better, I swear."

Lori considered her words and realized that everything that she had been through…

It felt way too coordinated. Although she wasn't thinking too clearly at the time, now that she was no longer thinking about _her_ any longer, it was clear that what Lynn was doing with her and what Luna had done before was all part of some plan that her sisters had cooked up to cheer her up from her bad mood.

"Yeah, I figured," Lori responded. "Lemme guess, you and Luna and Luan and Leni…you were all trying to cheer me up, right?"

Lynn nodded weakly, still refusing to meet Lori's eyes.

"Well, in a weird sort of way, you did."

"Huh? How'd we do that?" Luna asked, her tone conveying that she felt some guilt in all of this as well.

Lori gently nudged Leni away so she could stand on her own two feet. Lori found with surprise that, despite what had happened to her, she not only felt capable of moving under her own power but in a way, she felt…invigorated.

She knew it had little to do with her exercising. It was the knowledge that despite feeling inadequate compared to her rival and that her family had called her out for acting so defensively, they felt that she was worthy of their care, that she was worth sacrificing their free time to help her out of melancholy.

Would her family truly want to replace her if they were that attentive to her and willing to make sure that she wasn't down in the dumps anymore? It was question that Lori could answer for herself with the looks on her sisters faces right now; caring and concerned.

"Let's just say that I've had some…doubts about my place in the family. The fact you were all looking out for me…it proves that I was wrong to think the way I did."

"What way?" Leni asked.

Not wanting to talk about it and dwell on someone she still had ill feelings towards, Lori just waved it off.

"I'll tell you later," she said.

But now that everything felt like it was right with the world, there was only one thing left to do.

"Say, what time is it?" Lori asked no one in particular, not caring who gave her the answer.

She was relieved when Luna told her, "'Bout a quarter to 8:30. Guess that means we should get ready to go to the dining hall so we can chow down."

"Just what I needed to hear," Lori said as she patted her belly. "All that exercising worked up a killer appetite. I could literally eat an entire elephant right now."

Luan chuckled. "I'm sure it'd be a meal that you'd never forget!"

Unlike most of Luan's jokes, that one got a laugh from everyone and for Lori, she felt confident that it was a sign that better times were just ahead of her.

She just had to realize that her role as the big sister was something that no one could snatch out of her hand, even if it was someone like Car-

Lori quickly put a lid on the thought. She did not need a relapse right now.

Or ever, for that matter.

* * *

Although Lincoln, Lucy, Lana, Lola, and Lisa all had different expectations for what Carol had in store for them, neither of them were prepared for what they saw once Carol had called for them to meet her in the living room. Once the five children reach the bottom of the stairs, to their surprise, their discovery appeared rather lackluster.

The living room had been rearranged. The couch and coffee table had been pushed against the wall, leaving a wide expanse of space that they didn't often see unless their parents were cleaning around the house. Besides that, Carol was standing there with her duffel slung over her shoulder.

"Where's the game at?" Lola asked impatiently.

Carol wagged her finger at her.

"Don't fret, my pets. I'll be getting it out in just a moment. In the meantime, just stand in the middle of the room."

The kids just looked at each other and shrugged. Whatever Carol had planned for them must've been good enough for her not to reveal it outright and opt to shroud it in mystery for the time being. As they made their way over to her, though, some of them still couldn't help but want to probe for some answers.

"Have you made all this open room for a séance?" Lucy wondered.

Carol just shook her head.

"Nope."

"Is it going to be used for a royal execution?" Lola asked as she rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

"Nuh-uh," Carol replied just as quickly.

"Is this designated area a testing ground for a myriad of highly dangerous but mentally invigorating experiments that test the boundaries of the fabric of nature itself?" Lisa inquired.

It took Carol a few seconds to dwell on the proposal and she just let out a nervous giggle.

"Afraid not."

Once everyone was assembled where they were supposed to, Carol unzipped the duffel bag and pulled out five pairs of goggles, goggles that Lincoln found to be all too familiar.

"Feast your eyes on these," Carol exclaimed and passed a pair to each of them.

Once Lincoln got a hold of them, he stared at them with a tad bit of disappointment. He wasn't one to be ungrateful but these looked like the ones that he already had. There was nothing new to be experienced with…

"Wait a second…" he muttered as he focused on the strap and saw lettering that made his heart soar and a giant grin creep up on his face.

"This is the Opticus Shift! It's the latest VR headset system!" Lincoln said excitedly as he jumped up and down.

Lana looked over to Lincoln, clearly unimpressed. "So?"

Lincoln sniffed at the ignorant retort.

"They're the best virtual reality immersion headsets on the market right now! It's the ultimate gaming experience!"

With that, Lincoln snuggled the goggles closer to his chest and giggled like a schoolgirl. Lola just shook her head and looked up at Carol, who was thoroughly amused by Lincoln's reaction.

"Um, Carol, no offense or anything but my dorky brother's the only one here who's really into video games," Lola said dryly as she loosely gripped the goggles by their strap.

Carol smirked at the challenge underneath her statement.

"Oh, don't worry, Lola. I came here with a game that'll be sure to be fun for all of you. Just strap on those goggles and we'll be ready. I had the headsets all set up with the same multiplayer game so that way, you could all play together."

Almost simultaneously, they put their goggles in place. Immediately, they were all met with a visual of what appeared to be a cybernetic suit of medieval armor with two broadswords crossing over it. Lincoln recognized the symbol instantly.

"Is this what I think it is?" he asked.

"If your guess is "Medieval-ology: Scourge of Sarack", you'd be correct," Carol responded. "It's-"

"An RPG of the fantasy genre that blends the elements of the fictional capabilities of technology from the 23rd century and the historical background of the Middle Ages," Lisa interjected with a hint of pride in her voice. "We, as the players, will assume the roles of heroes that are imbued with a different skillset of abilities that will allow us to confront the mastermind behind the turmoil that plagues the land, a scientist named William Sarack, that traversed back through time to the point of the 13th century and conquered various kingdoms with his futuristic weaponry."

Lincoln was taken aback by the declaration.

"Wow, Lisa, I didn't think you cared for video games," Lincoln said proudly. "That's basically what the whole game is about."

Lisa clicked her tongue at him.

"The premise was decipherable enough at first glance," Lisa retorted callously. "Your primitive tastes don't leave much room for rigorous speculation."

Lincoln just sighed at the barb and sat back as the opening crawl for the game played out. As the cinematic scenes and gameplay footage rolled on, he could hear his sisters squealing in anticipation. He couldn't blame them; although he had a copy of the game himself, it was still loads of fun. But between all the schoolwork he had been swamped with lately and spending more time with his friends as they played outside, he hadn't had a chance to play it himself.

Once the crawl ended for him, Lincoln was virtually in front of a forest camp full of different warriors as they walked about, conversing with each other and practicing their respective arts in the distance. This was the class selection stage of the game and they were expected to choose a skillset that they would be stuck with for the remainder of the game.

"So, which class do you want to be?" Lincoln said aloud. "I'll let you guys have first pick since it's your first ti-"

"I wanna be the lancer! He's got a robot horse that breathes fire through its nostrils!" Lana answered excitedly.

"The cleric class is a tempting position. I'm curious as to how many concoctions I'll be able to brew," Lisa said pensively.

"The call of the black mage…it beckons to me," Lucy stated as monotone as ever.

"I'll be the knight since, y'know, he's obviously the star player and who better to assume that role than yours truly?" Lola asserted.

After everyone else had claimed their roles, Lincoln was happy that they had left him with what he thought was the best role: the archer.

Oh well, once he racked up the most points with the most enemy casualties, they'd learn exactly why he was the best video game player in this side of Royal Woods!

Well, except for Ronnie Anne. She always kicked his butt.

As he virtually picked up his quiver and bow, his thoughts drifted to the real world and the person who made this all possible. Once again, Carol's instincts had turned out for the best for them and now, he and his sisters were going to have fun with something that Lincoln thought that only he could truly be interested in.

After this round of robot bashing, he just had to learn what made Carol so special, what made her so good at looking after children.

But for now, there were dozens of bags of nuts n' bolts out there who were asking for a few arrows to the…well, anywhere he wanted.

* * *

Lori only felt like a fish out of water on few occasions; junior prom, using a payphone instead of her smartphone, or having a plate of soft-boiled eggs on her plate for breakfast.

Now, she could add dining at the DHCC to that exclusive list.

Of course, her current self-consciousness had less to do with eating in a fancy-looking dining hall and more to do with the fact that she felt that she stuck out like a sore thumb. Her sweaty, stained clothes, her small, swollen knot on her forehead, and her slightly disheveled hair boldly juxtaposed the almost ballroom appearance that they she and her family were currently eating in.

Thankfully, they had managed to get themselves a table that was the closest to the exit, meaning that if some strangers felt the need to brashly comment on Lori's inappropriate presentation, she could excuse herself from such commentary in a hurry. It'd be a bit telling of her insecurity but she wouldn't care; the last thing she needed was to be dragged back down in a sour mood after finally getting over "she who shall not be named or thought of".

"Can you believe this place?!" Lynn Sr. whispered excitedly to his family, who were all chowing down on their respective meals and paying him little heed. "Exquisite décor, grand ambience and the most important thing of all…"

He gesticulated to the food before him with a twinkle in his eye.

"Lobster puffs!"

With that, he dug back into his meal with the ferocity of a starving dog. Meanwhile, Lori continued wolfing down her sautéed mushrooms, though with more attention to social grace than her father. Surprisingly, it was Lynn who showed the most restraint out of all of them, eating her porterhouse steak with tiny nibbles and more attention to silverware acumen than she cared to show at home.

Speaking of Lynn, Lori felt that as the sports loving maniac that she was, she'd have the answer to a pressing curiosity that she had realized since she discovered that she was able to walk about without much issue, despite the strenuous exercise her body had gone through nearly an hour ago.

Turning to her left and tapping the pony-tailed girl on the shoulder, Lori waited for her to gaze at her before she spoke.

"You know, I would think that with all that working out I did, I'd feel a lot more stiff and sore," Lori said, rolling her shoulder slightly and earning no pain from the small gesture. "Why do you suppose that is?"

"That's just DOMS," Lynn replied with a knowing smile on her face, clearly proud of having the chance to show off her know-how.

"What's that?"

"Delayed onset muscle soreness. Basically, you won't be feeling sore until tomorrow. You'll be in for a doozy when you wake up."

Lori groaned and stabbed at a mushroom with her fork.

"Sounds fun," she groused sarcastically.

Before she could put the punctured mushroom into her mouth, however, her eyes caught sight of her mother, who was eating to her right. For whatever reason, she was looking at the screen of her phone and softly giggling and cooing, all while having a hand covering her mouth.

Inquisitive to her mother's behavior, Lori asked, "Mom, what're you looking at?"

Turning to her daughter with bright smile on her face, Rita held up the phone to her at an angle that allowed Lori to faintly see the pictures.

"Just these really cute pictures that Carol sent to me," Rita answered.

Instantly, Lori dropped her fork, not paying heed to the sharp _*clang*_ noise it made against her plate and how it drew her family's attention to her.

Her left eye twitched as knots twisted and tightened in her gut.

' _Get it together, Lori. You're supposed to be over her, remember?'_

But still, that didn't mean that she couldn't take one quick little peek at the pictures. What could the harm be? Just one…little…peek. J-just a peek! Nothing more, nothing less!

"Pictures? Uh…what _kind_ of pictures?" Lori asked with a grin that almost failed to exhibit her repressed bottled emotions.

"See for yourself," Rita said and handed off the phone to Lori, missing out on the visible cues that spelled out how much inner turmoil Lori was presently contending with.

With trembling hands, Lori gazed upon the pictures…

…and at first sight, her uneasy toothy grin only got wider and her right eye joined its twin, convulsing spastically at the same rhythm as her left one.

There, in the middle of the living room, were her other siblings joyfully playing about with what appeared to be VR headsets on. They looked like they were having a blast.

Looking down at the left corner of the screen, she realized that she had only seen the first of seven pictures.

She swiped at the touchscreen and upon doing so, she felt the blood, tunneling through her body, heat up intensely. There was Lola and…and… _Carol_ in a selfie photo, duck lips and all. Almost robotically, she quickly skimmed through the others and with each photo, she could almost hear her heartbeat racing faster and her veins bubbling over. There was a picture of Carol and Lily as Carol had the baby in her arms while reading her a story, a picture of Carol and Lucy watching TV together, a picture of Carol washing Lana in a bubble bath while she played with a rubber duck, a picture of Lisa lecturing Carol over some unknown subject while Carol shrugged helplessly with a nervous smile and finally, one of Carol and Lincoln, her only brother, sharing playfully playing a game of tug-o'-war over a slice of pizza.

 _Her_ siblings. _Her_ family. All of them were under Carol's spell and were none the wiser for it. Thinking about it all day paled in comparison to seeing it for herself.

Suddenly, everything that she had felt ever since discovering Carol's babysitter role came roaring back to life again.

Her anger at Carol for wanting to take another part of her life away from her.

Her frustration at no one else realizing what she was doing because of how she had wrapped them all around her little finger.

Her hurt at how her family seemed to have a better time with Carol in one night than they ever had with her with all her years she poured into the role of not only keeping the house from falling apart but the role of keeping her siblings safe.

Her feelings didn't matter because apparently, _she_ didn't matter. She just knew that airing out her grievances would do no good; all she needed to do was remember how Leni, the siblings she was the closest to, had snapped at her for daring to question Carol's honor and intentions.

"Lori?" Rita called out to Lori, not liking how eerily quiet Lori had gotten and how stiffly she sat in her chair.

But a new feeling joined in the myriad of emotions that were swirling around in her: determination. Whether it was desperation for a new solution or disgust from feeling so helpless, she refused to let this cycle of misery last for one more second. Instead of moping about the bad hand she had been dealt with, she was going to grab the dealer the collar and rough him, or in this case, _her_ , up until they learned that no, absolutely no one, took what was Lori's and got away with. Her friends and the Homecoming crown were one thing.

Her status in the family? She wouldn't take someone usurping that from her without a fight.

Perfect or not, Carol wouldn't be feeling so smug by the time Lori laid down the law.

Meanwhile, Rita reached out to Lori, intending to get her daughter's attention more directly. "Honey, is everything ok-"

Lori roughly gave the phone back to her mother, her creepy grin as unconvincing and unsettling as ever.

"Peachy! Absolutely peachy! Everything's all hunky-dory and dory-hunky in Lori's world! Yep, yep, yep! Nothing's wrong! I'm great, you're great, everything's just great! See this smile?! Look at it! Smiley, smiley, smiley fun times for Lori!"

….

….

….

"Ummm…fantastic," Rita said with uneasiness and stuffed her phone into her purse and cast Lori one last concerned look before returning to her meal.

Lori cheered at her success inwardly. No one had any clue about what she was about to do, which meant that there was only thing left to accomplish before she could carry out her new plan.

Raising to her feet, Lori met the curious glances of her family with a lofty remark.

"So…yeah, I'm just gonna…uh…hit the loo. The mushrooms aren't agreeing with me right now."

"Have you tried making a compromise? People usually agree to those," Lynn said, chuckling at his joke.

"Good one, Dad!" Luan said and gave her father a high five.

Rolling her eyes at the corny exchange, Lori excused herself, making her way towards the exit. Once she passed through the doors, she patted her shorts pocket and felt her literal key to freedom; her keys but most importantly, her key to Vanzilla that she knew was there.

Lori tightened her fists until they were fit for punching. She didn't care what consequences her plan would bring about and she didn't care that she would most likely get caught before she could reach her destination.

She was going to set the record straight to a certain Pingrey whether anyone liked it or not.

 _Painfully_ , if she had to.


	7. Chapter 7

' _Okay, remind me to never let Lola near a sword for real,'_ Lincoln promised to himself after unstrapping the VR goggles off.

He didn't know how much time had passed since they first started playing but ever since their final mission, which was a raid of one of Sarack's strongholds in Poland, it was clear that Lola was far too proficient in wielding a sword than he was comfortable with. Add her volatile temper into the mix and who knew what she could do?

He wasn't planning on finding out any time soon and he just wanted to focus on giving Carol the goggles after he heard her telling them that it was time to stop playing. Now, immersed in the real world once again, the first thing that Lincoln realized was that Lola, Lisa, Lana, and Lucy were all worn out. Lucy, in particular, looked like she was going to tip over from all the lethargic swaying she was doing.

"Aw, how cute. They're all tuckered out."

Lincoln followed where the voice came from and found Carol heading towards them, her duffel bag slung over her shoulder, with an expectant smile on her face. As she went to each child and took back her goggles, Lincoln couldn't help but notice how triumphant she looked and all at once, the pieces began fitting together seamlessly.

"Wait…you planned for this?" Lincoln asked Carol as she took the last pair of goggles from Lisa and gingerly shuffled them into the open bag.

The grin he got answered that question for him but Carol was still eager to address him directly.

"Well, I'm not exactly what you'd call an 'on the fly' individual, Lincoln."

As Carol moved to the corner of the living room to place her bag down, Lincoln was once again, taken aback by how Carol seemed to know far too well what she was doing. Getting all of them sleepy to make it easier for them to go to bed without a fight; why hadn't he thought of trying that?

But now that all the fun and games were over, Lincoln couldn't let the lull of drowsiness keep him from getting to the bottom of what he wanted to know.

"Carol?" he asked as the babysitter in question approached him.

He paused to let her respond but when she didn't, he continued.

"Can I talk to you a little later about something?"

Instead of replying right away, Carol just picked up Lola and held her in her arms. When she had the "princess" secure, she looked down and told him, "Sure, but let me get these little troopers to bed first and put everything back in its place in the living room. We can have the whole couch to ourselves."

With that, Carol walked to the staircase, clearly with the objective of getting Lola ready for bed. As she did so, Lincoln was on pins and needles. The last time that Carol had divulged her past to him, he detected shreds of regret and shame in her storytelling and once it was all said and done, it was easy to see why.

But now that he wanted to know how Carol got so good at babysitting, a question that could produce a potentially personal anecdote, could it be said that he wouldn't be putting her through that again?

* * *

Lincoln sat patiently in his bed, waiting for Carol to tuck his siblings in for the night. He kicked his legs lazily back and forth as he sat on the edge of his bed, thinking about how he was going to approach Carol.

On top of that, he was wondering _if_ he should do it in the first place. Again, his curiosity wasn't worth Carol's discomfort…

But then again, Carol's ability to plan ahead and despite her dismissal earlier, she could think on the spot. It reminded him a lot about how he dealt with his plans. Maybe, there was something that he could learn.

Uh, but then again…

"Lincoln?"

He jerked up when he heard Carol calling out to him on the other side of his door. In a flash, he opened the door and was greeted with Carol's radiant smile.

"Yes, Carol?"

She leaned against his doorway. "You wanted to talk, right?"

Despite his earlier dilemma, he found himself nodding, thought with noncommittal vigor.

"Then let's chat. I'll be in the living room when you're ready."

He walked out of the room and waited for Carol to get the hint and step out of the way before he closed the door.

"I'm ready now, actually," Lincoln said.

Carol's smile melted away until a stern look was plastered on her face. It caught Lincoln off guard until Carol's next statement put him at ease.

"Alright but let's not have it last for too long. You need your sleep," she told him motherly.

Then, without thinking, Lincoln did something that made Carol's eyebrows arch up. He didn't notice her reaction until her smooth, silky voice playfully caught his attention.

"Lincoln, you sly dog, you," she teased, feigning disgusted shock.

Lincoln just shrugged helplessly. "Huh?"

"Holding hands with a girl so boldly and suddenly. That takes quite a lot of guts."

Immediately, his eyes expanded as he looked down and saw that he had, indeed, grasped Carol's hand softly into one of his own.

As if he touched a hot stove, Lincoln pulled his hand away as his face burned with shame.

"I'm sorry! I have no idea what came over me! I-I-I just-"

Before another flustered word could spout out, Carol gently tapped him on the nose. The gesture got him to stop and gaze up at Carol, though even without a scornful scowl on her face, he didn't like his chances of getting out of this confrontation without being scolded.

Though it wasn't spelled out for him not to do so, he was pretty sure that holding hands with someone unfamiliar to him, even someone as nice as Carol, was crossing the line and he was certain Carol would bluntly tell him that.

He was given reprieve when Carol did the opposite of that.

"Lincoln, relax," she said. "I'm not angry at you, I promise."

Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, Carol pressed him with a question that put him on the spot.

"Although, I am curious. Why _did_ you hold my hand like that?"

Knowing that lying was pointless with Carol, and seeing as how the truth wasn't anything really embarrassing, Lincoln decided to just go with that angle.

"I…I guess it just felt…natural."

"Natural?"

"Uh-huh. I hold hands with my sisters all the time and for a minute, I forgot that you were my babysitter and well…" He grinned weakly at her. "I just thought of you as if you were one of my own sisters."

Once his words caught up to him, Lincoln nearly facepalmed at his admittance, especially when he regarded Carol's expression. From Lincoln's short time with her, he had seen her emotions mostly on the positive side of the spectrum and dreaded the short bursts of the needle falling in the opposite direction.

Now? It was more in the middle than anything but all in all, Lincoln was sure that his words made Carol feel a tad bit uncomfortable.

Before he could speak, he noticed Carol's lips twitch and her clear, blue eyes…glisten.

Lincoln felt his heart sink and his spine freeze. Had he made her cry?

He didn't have time to know for sure because Carol turned away from him.

"We should get going," she said and made her way briskly towards the stairs.

With trepidation, Lincoln followed her from a distance, all while feeling a bit guilty for whatever it was he had done to make her react that way.

* * *

Lincoln was happy to see that in a just a few minutes, Carol seemed as upbeat and chipper as always. Once he sat himself on the couch, Carol proposed that if she was going to chitchat, they might as well have a big bowl of ice cream.

His heart soared when he heard her coming and reached out his hands to grab at the bowl of ice cream that Carol was giving to him.

"Here we are. One bowl of Neapolitan for you," she said as the handoff was completed without a hitch. "And one bowl of mint chocolate chip for yours truly."

Before Carol could find a spot next on the couch next to him, Lincoln was already digging in, not caring for how many droplets of ice cream flew behind him as he ate. In a matter of seconds, the hill of frozen delicacies was all but a memory and Lincoln sighed contently as he placed his bowl next to him.

He realized that while he was eating, Carol was minding her own ice cream at a much more delicate pace. As he silently watched her, Lincoln thought about how he was going to initiate this conversation in the best way possible. He didn't want to go and…

' _Wait,'_ he suddenly though. _'This is all wrong. I'm not giving Carol enough credit. How bad could it all turn out? It's not like this'll be worse than what she told me about her and Lori.'_

Deciding to just confront her directly, Lincoln went to do just that but he wouldn't do so without letting her know his true feelings about her.

"Carol, I think you're a really cool babysitter," he said.

Carol took a dainty spoonful of her ice cream before she smiled at him.

"I try my best."

"But that's the thing; it doesn't even look like you're trying. You just seem to know how to do it all out of instinct. So, what I wanna know, Carol, is how you got so good at babysitting. If it's not instinct, then what is it and on top of that, what inspired you to do it in the first place?"

Without warning, Carol suddenly drooped over as she held her bowl in her lap and gazed at her ice cream.

Lincoln panicked. Her dreary face was definitely something that he hadn't planned for.

"Carol?" Lincoln said as he reached over to her and placed a hand on knee.

That got Carol to jolt back, which in doing so, caused her ice cream to fly out of her lap until it landed on Lincoln's flannel top.

Carol's hands flew over her mouth as she gasped. She hurriedly got up from her seat.

"Oh my gosh! Lincoln, I'm sorry! Wait right there, okay?!"

Lincoln did as he was told, all while trying not to squirm too much as the melting ice cream seeped through his clothes and icily scorched his skin. Carol returned with a wadded-up wet paper towel in her hand, got down on her knees in front of him, pushed the bowl out of the way, and began lightly dabbing at the stain as gingerly but as quickly as she could.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid…" she muttered.

By the time she was done, there wasn't a trace of ice cream left on his shirt but in its place was a wet stain that was bigger than what the ice cream had left behind. Groaning, Carol tossed the paper towel wad over her shoulder as she sat down next to Lincoln.

"Sorry. It's the best I can do with just a wet paper towel."

Knowing that Carol hadn't truly done any damage, Lincoln tried assuring her that no harm was done.

"It's fine," he said.

But Carol wasn't having any of it.

"No. It's _not_ fine. I got your clothes all ruined because I was being a careless idiot. You shouldn't have to put up with that."

Carol patted her on the hand to get her to relax. It did the trick and when their eyes met, Lincoln told her, "Carol, seriously, it's fine. I really like having you here. If it means that my PJ's get a stain or two, then you're more than worth that."

After a few moments of silence, Carol finally spoke up as she grinned.

"You really are a sweet kid, y'know that?"

Lincoln shrank back. "I don't know about that."

Carol glowered disapprovingly. "What'd you mean?"

Lincoln instantly recalled what his words had done to trigger Carol in the last few minutes and once again, felt a bit of shame at what he had unwittingly done.

"I said something that made you upset; just now when I asked you what got you into babysitting and in the hallway when I said that I thought about you like a big sister."

Immediately, Carol replied with an answer that not only assured Lincoln that Carol wasn't broken up but made him glad that she was going to give him what he wanted.

"I'll tell you why I reacted that way. _It's_ not something that I've talked about with anyone other than my family but if I know anything about you, Lincoln, is that you're a good listener and sometimes, that's all you need to make the pain go away."

She waited for him to settle himself more comfortably in his seat before she wistfully sighed and spoke.

"Lincoln, have you ever been promised that one day, something wonderful will happen to you, something that'll change your life forever?"

Lincoln regarded the question in his head and couldn't remember anything that fit the bill. He had been promised trips to the amusement park by his parents or a new comic book from time to time if he was behaving exceptionally well…

But the weight of Carol's words made what she was talking about sounds way more important than some thrills and spills on a puke-inducing roller coaster or new reading material.

"Not that I can remember," he answered honestly.

Carol's eyes shifted into her lap and her dreary frown returned on her face again.

"Well, when I was eight-years-old, that's exactly the kind of promise my mother gave me. See, when I came home from school one day, my mom was waiting for me at the front door. She looked like she wanted to tell me something and from the look on her face, I could tell she was really excited.

So, I go inside the house and once I'm in, my mother suddenly kneels down on the floor and hugs me. I hug her back, of course, and then before I could say anything, she whispered something in my ear."

"What did she say?" Lincoln asked.

Carol beckoned him over with a few curls of her pointer finger. When he was almost shoulder-to-shoulder with her, she leaned down until her lips were centimeters away from Lincoln's ear. He shuddered lightly as her mouth accidentally brushed against her earlobe as she whispered, "'Guess what, Carol? You're gonna be a big sister.'"

She leaned back and Lincoln was relieved to see that she wasn't frowning anymore. In fact, she seemed happy and nostalgic and he couldn't blame her.

He didn't remember what it was like when Lucy was on the way but he remembered not being able to keep still when he learned that his mother was giving birth to two sisters at once; Lana and Lola.

"It was a big relief since, first of all, I thought my parents got my report card in the mail and saw my horrible grades in History and Science and needed to have a serious talk with me," Carol joked.

Lincoln chuckled and Carol waited for him to stop before she spoke again.

"Second of all, it was a relief because before she told me, she was always throwing up in the morning and I didn't know why. I thought she might be really sick or something. But after she told me that she was pregnant, it all made sense.

But even moreso than relief, there was joy on my end. I only had three real friends growing up and all of them had cute little siblings to look after. I was jealous of them because I wanted one, too."

Her face became somber again and Lincoln knew that he was in for something rather heavy.

"Lincoln, I had a question for you earlier and now, I have a follow-up question."

He nodded to let her know that he was listening.

"Do you know what it's like for such a great promise to be taken away from you and after you did nothing wrong?"

Unlike the first question, Lincoln didn't find it difficult to conjure up examples. All those times he couldn't hang out with Clyde because of his or her sister's sporadic fits of sickness weren't memories he was fond of recalling.

"Unfortunately, I can relate," the boy grumbled.

"So can I," Carol replied more bitterly. "About two months later, my parents came back from the hospital. See, my mother was bleeding from her…"

She paused for a bit and squirmed as she considered her next words carefully. Lincoln felt he had an idea where Carol was going with this and although he could've just told her that he was already familiar with the basics of human female anatomy, thanks to health class and living around so many girls for his entire life, he was interested in seeing her attempts at damage control.

"Well, from her private parts," she fumbled out awkwardly. "She'd been bleeding like that for five days and they were worried that something might be wrong."

She brought up her hand to rest it against her head as she stared at the living room window.

"They were right."

Lincoln scooted a bit closer to her.

"What happened to her?"

He winced as Carol sneered at her reflection in the window and furiously flew out a bang of her hair that had gotten in her face.

"According to my father, nothing that _should've_ happened. They took an ultrasound exam and found out that the baby didn't make it."

Lincoln's face paled and it took every ounce of strength in his body not to cry.

He couldn't even begin to imagine what that would be like. He had nightmares about being separated from his family but at least those dreams didn't really happen and even then, at least he could take solace in the fact that they were alive.

He didn't want to think living in a world without any of his sisters. It'd be too much pain to bare and it was remarkable how Carol could seemingly go through her life as smoothly as she had done knowing that her own sibling was gone from the world before they could even be born.

No wonder Carol didn't want to talk about his query. He didn't know what it had to do with Carol and babysitting just yet but was it any wonder that Carol wasn't ecstatic about opening up about her unborn sibling.

Lincoln didn't have a chance to apologize for being insensitive before Carol spoke again, anger visible on her face.

"She took care to watch what she ate. She didn't smoke. She didn't drink. She didn't do anything she wasn't supposed to and yet…"

She breathed deeply and got ahold of herself before her rage could spiral out of control. Not holding the pause against her one bit, Lincoln just waited patiently for Carol retain composure.

"So, as you could probably guess, I was devastated," she said. "I remember not being able to do anything but sit in my bed and cry all day. I distanced myself from my friends for a while because seeing them with their brothers and sisters would remind me of what I lost.

Eventually, though, I no longer holed myself in my room like a recluse and I got back in the swing of things with my social life. But still, I still had a lingering curiosity that I couldn't help but feel sad about; what would things be like if I had the chance to be a big sister?"

Lincoln gave out a weak, "Yeah?".

"Well, understandably, my mother was too afraid to try and have children after her miscarriage, so I wouldn't have the chance to find out with a little sibling of my own but my father made it possible for me to have a taste of that responsibility when, years later, he told us that we'd be moving to Michigan. That's when it all happened.

When I was at school, I saw a babysitting service flier on the school's job offer bulletin. As soon as I did, everything clicked for me; I was going to become a babysitter and then, I'd finally get the chance to watch over kids like an older sibling would do. It wouldn't be the same as taking care of a little brother or sister of my own but at least it'd be something, right?"

Lincoln noted how weary and croaky her voice sounded at the end of her sentence and sure enough, he saw her quickly wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt.

"I don't like to brag and call myself perfect or whatever but I guess I'm great at babysitting because I've had years to think about what being a big sister would be like. I imagined taking my little sibling out for ice cream, watching a movie together, tying their shoes, wiping their noses, reading them bedtime stories, and everything else that a big sister sho-"

"I'm sorry, Carol."

He just couldn't take it anymore. Carol had told him enough and it wasn't his place to take in what he didn't deserve to hear, especially when it was clearly making her heart wrench in agony.

Carol's face contorted in confusion. "What're you sorry about, Lincoln? You wanted to know so I told you."

Lincoln sighed. "Still, I shouldn't have made you reminisce about what you and your family went through. It was wrong and I'm really sorry."

Lincoln's conscience didn't feel much better when he heard Carol let out a laugh that he knew was a bit forced.

"Lincoln, you didn't _make_ me do anything. I told you because I _wanted_ to. Besides, remember what I said earlier? Sometimes, all you need is a good listener and I really needed one."

Lincoln perked up and dared to give her a tiny smile.

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. I feel like I've got a huge weight of my chest and it's all thanks to you."

Lincoln sank back in his chair, pleased that Carol didn't disapprove and was glad that their little talk was therapeutic to her.

But all the same, that left one stone left unturned and despite everything, Lincoln wanted to flip it over.

"But still, that doesn't explain why you looked upset in the hallway earlier."

Carol shook her head. "I wasn't upset, Lincoln. I was just…surprised you said that. But more than that, I was really happy. Hearing you say that I was like a sister to you…"

Lincoln was taken aback when out of nowhere, Carol began sobbing, her tears trickling down her face. All the same, she was smiling, making Lincoln feel as though she didn't need immediate comfort since it looked like she was crying tears of joy.

His expectations of a peaceful bout of crying were dashed when she croaked out, "I-It made feel like I was on top of the world."

With that, more tears flowed out of eyes and Carol didn't care to preserve modesty as she wept. It was enough to make a few tears sear out of Lincoln's eyes and before Carol could notice, Lincoln had gotten closer to her as he knelt on the couch to get at eye-level with her.

"Carol?"

She sniffed and brushed her tears away from her puffy, red eyes. Though she didn't look at him, that suited Lincoln just find for what he was about to do next.

He swept away her hair away from her ear and moved in close until he was nearly touching the skin of her ear with his mouth.

"I can be your little brother any time you want me to be," he whispered.

The heartfelt proposal made Carol whip her head around to face him.

"You…you mean that?" Carol eyes as her eyes dazzled.

Instead of speaking right away., Lincoln just moved downwards and hugged her around her midsection as he rested his head on her lap and the side of his face pressed against her stomach.

"I mean it, Carol," he said solemnly.

Carol was stunned but all the same, thrilled at what Lincoln had told her. Years ago, she was promised something wonderful in the same way that Lincoln had just delivered to her. The significance of it all meant the world to her and with nothing else to add, Carol just stroked his face softly with her thumb, content with just spending the last few minutes of her time in the Loud house with Lincoln, her newfound "baby brother".

* * *

' _Home at last,'_ Lori thought as the driveway of the house was upon her.

It had only been an hour-long drive to get here but for her, it was almost like an eternity. As expected, her parents and sisters started frantically reaching out to her on her phone with texts and missed calls when it became apparent that her supposed bathroom break was nothing more than a ruse.

Each worried text and call, that came in by the droves, was a tug at the heartstrings for Lori but in the end, she knew that she couldn't relent. She had a message to deliver and she was not going to let anyone stand in the way of that, even if it meant that she'd be in trouble for this later.

The last text from her mother, that told her to promptly return Vanzilla back immediately or face dire consequences, pretty much sealed the deal when it came to her fate; go back and she'd never have the chance to confront Carol the way she wanted, without anyone else getting in her way and if she didn't, those vague consequences would bite her in the butt.

Either way, she'd get the short end of the stick but that didn't mean that she was going to give up her pride and place in the world for some veiled threats.

Once she parked herself in her designated spot, her eyes skimmed down to the screen of her cellphone, which was resting the cup holder. The first thing she noticed was how late it was.

10:08. Chances were, either her parents had gotten themselves a lift and were heading straight home or they'd be left stranded miles away from home until she returned to them.

Lori hardened her heart to the swelling, queasy pangs of guilt that her rashness had done to them; after all, if they weren't so keen on being clueless, she wouldn't have to go this far to make her point.

With her mind made up on the course ahead, Lori exited the van and slammed the driver's door behind her, marching towards the front door without even bothering to use the sidewalk. She climbed up the steps to her house. Once she was in front of the door, grabbed the house keys from her pocket, and unlocked the door.

Without thinking of being inconspicuous, Lori grabbed the doorknob, and flung the door open roughly.

The sight before her made her blood boil; there was that…that leech sitting on the couch while _her_ brother slept with his head rested in her lap while she combed her fingers through his hair.

The loud intrusion was abrupt enough for Carol to snap up and reel back from the sight of a seething, livid Lori at the doorway. Before she could say anything, Lori beat her to the punch:

" _ **GET AWAY FROM HIM!"**_


	8. Chapter 8

What felt like a cavalcade of volts jolted through Lincoln's dozing body when a mumbled but very loud and familiar voice shot through his skull, snapping him out of sleep in an instant. He jerked back a bit and felt himself nestling closer into a soft, body-like pillow. His sleep-addled mind contended with his blurry focus to get a hold on his bearings and recall what had led him to this situation. He craned his neck upward and at once, it all caught up to him.

He had quite the heart-to-heart with Carol and along the way, he had fallen asleep on her lap. That much, he managed to decipher on his own.

What he _couldn't_ decipher, however, was why Carol was looking towards the front door with an apprehensive, almost fearful look on her face. Before he could follow where her eyes were looking towards-

" _ **GET YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF MY BROTHER! NOW!"**_

Now that he was fully awake, that bestial shout was crystal clear and without even having to turn around, he had a good idea what was going on. Panic seized his body and it thundered across his nerves in a burning wave of anxiety that ignited his better senses that told him to take immediate shelter.

This…this was not going to end well.

Carol managed to find her voice as she asked concernedly, "Lori, what're you doing here?"

Her appeal to her curiosity didn't bode well in getting answers from the girl in question, who slammed the door shut behind her before taking a few steps towards the object of her raging ire.

" _ **IF YOU DON'T GET AWAY FROM HIM THIS INSTANT, I SWEAR I'LL-"**_

"Lori?"

Lori caught her heaving, angry breath in the middle of her throat and swallowed it as she paused. Something about the tranquil sound of her little brother's voice dowsed out the forest fire blooming within her to a stove top blaze.

She unclenched her fists and planted her feet firmly on the carpet, waiting for Lincoln to continue.

"Lori, what's going on?"

She sensed the fear in his voice and almost quaked under the perturbed fervor of Lincoln's question, which she read more as a plea for mercy than anything else.

But all it took was one quick look up at Carol before the intensity of Lori's temper flared to life again and dictated her next course of action; getting Lincoln away from her target.

She'd hate for there to be innocent casualties, after all.

She inhaled harshly through her nose before releasing the air in a short puff through the crease of her pursed lips. She does it a few more times before she jabbed at the spot by her right and tersely ordered, "Lincoln, come here."

Her eye twitched when she picked up the air of reluctance from Lincoln's posture. Instead of immediately crumbling under her authority, he shuffled _even closer_ into Carol, a reaction that shattered Lori's collected face, revealing the glower she had just a few seconds earlier. In the corner of her eye, she spotted Lucy, Lana, Lola, and Lisa watching from afar at the top of the staircase.

Lincoln opened his mouth to speak but collapsed under the swelling of dread that crumbled his internal fortitude into mush. He swiftly clamped his upper row of teeth into his bottom lip and shuddered like a leaf in the wind when he realized that Lori would only get madder the longer he delayed. The tense air thickened as what feels like an eternity ticked by.

Lori's teeth gnashed and her furious hyperventilating breath clashed against the silence.

Once more, she pointed to her side and barked, teeth still grinding, "Get. Over. Here."

The threatening growl tugs at Carol's motherly instincts and before Lincoln can slink out of her lap and begrudgingly do as his sister tells him, she wrapped her arms around him gently and matched Lori's scowl with one of her own.

The trepidation, rattling in Lincoln's bones, melted and with a silent apology to Lori, that he transmitted to her through his gaze, he slid further back, basked in Carol's embrace, and prayed to the stars above that peace would come over the situation.

Lori slammed a hand against the side of her temples before harshly digging fingers through her hair.

"You have got to be…" she began in disbelief but halted her motions when the "culprit and mastermind" behind all these events drew her focus back to the couch and the incriminating evidence of her suspicions.

She pointed to Carol and uttered, " _You._ " The accusation in her tone superseded that of the finger she pointed at the babysitter. "What did you say to him? What have you done to Lincoln?"

The fact that Carol appeared to be comfortable in her own skin and wanted to stand her ground, convicted and proud in her highway robbery of her family, sent ill-tempered shivers through Lori's core.

"I seriously don't have a clue about what you're talking about, Lori."

Lori barked out a shrill laugh, feeling a kernel of amusement on how Carol truly believed she had pulled the strings enough to feel as if she wasn't backed into a corner.

With an almost wicked delight festering in her disposition, Lori found herself ready to tackle the challenge.

"Oh ho ho, that's rich!" she said. "You don't know what I'm talking about?! Am I supposed to believe that for one second?! Huh?! Especially after the stunt you pulled?!"

The brewing irritation bubbling in Carol's gut subsided to a gust of confusion that knocked her for a loop.

"What stunt?" Carol asked with a raised eyebrow.

Lori stomped her foot down and Lincoln winced as the furniture and wall fixtures rattled and shook from the tectonic quake. What made him shudder more than that is how Lori's face, which was plastered under a veil of reddened, vein-popped skin, sweated and twitched.

The teeth-baring snarl didn't make the picture any less frightening.

"Don't play dumb with me, Carol! I know exactly what you're up to!"

Having had enough with the cryptic allegations, Carol emulated Lori's brash outburst with a shout of her own.

"What stunt, Lori?!"

The rise in volume did nothing to deter Lori from her self-appointed role as judge, jury, and… _executioner_.

"You wanna keep this up?! Fine! I'll 'remind' you since you've seemed to have conveniently 'forgotten'! The stunt I was referring to was the one where you thought it'd be a real treat to send my mother pictures of _you_ being all cutesy with _my_ siblings!"

Carol's mouth fell agape as she tried to fathom the sheer insanity of Lori's affirmation. The lid that she had kept firmly on her temper pops off, skyrocketing through the air.

Whatever "scheme" Lori thought she was supposedly pulling off was stupid enough as it was but to make matters worse, while Lori had obviously arrived here with a car, it had been minutes since her abrupt, early arrival and neither her parents or other sisters had shown up. Surely, at least one of them would've diffused this nonsense before it spiraled into the full-fledged warfare that Lori was insisting on engaging with her.

That could only mean that Lori had abandoned them, just so she could chew her out over some ill-gotten conspiracy that was only a product of her paranoia-filled head.

And that was _not_ okay.

"And that's what a stunt looks like to you?!" Carol shouted. "Some pictures?! Have you gone mental?!"

"If by 'gone mental', you mean that I'm wise to your little scheme, then yes!" Lori countered. "Yes, I have gone mental!"

"Stunts?! Schemes?! What are you yammering on about, Lori?! You're not making any sense! You ditch your own family just so you can get to the bottom of something that doesn't even exist! What are you even talking about?!"

"How about the fact that you're trying to take my own family away from me, you leech?!"

Carol's next batch of inflammatory words trickle down her throat like honey, slow and plodding. She took in Lori's accusation and was frightened by how ludicrous it is.

"What? Lori, that's…" Carol shook her head furiously. "That's…insane. I'm not here to take you from anyone _or_ anything."

Lori folded her arms and sneered.

"Really, Ms. Friend Thief and Homecoming Queen? You haven't taken anything from me?"

Suddenly, Carol found clarity behind Lori's statements but also found the right retort for her defense. She nearly relented on how the nature of the words would sound but knew that she wanted nothing to do with the escalation of peril if she did nothing to quell Lori's crackpot theories.

"Never," Carol said defiantly. "Your friends wanted me around because they liked me and I won Homecoming Queen because I got the most votes."

When Lori seemed to shrink back in contemplation and humility, Carol calmly punctuated her vindication with, "See? I haven't taken anything from you."

"Lori, please don't do this," Lincoln chimed in. "Think about what you're planning before you wind up doing something you're gonna regret."

Unlike before, Lincoln's pleading voice serves only to force indignation to swell through her veins. It was bad enough that Carol had the audacity to deny her part in her sordid scheme but the fact that Lincoln was so obediently wrapped around her finger and speaking on her behalf…

It made Lori's tunnel vision shift towards her prime objective in taking Carol to task.

"Oh, trust me, Lincoln, I've had _plenty_ of time to come to terms with what I know that I have to do," Lori insisted.

She turns to Carol now, glaring at her.

"She doesn't think that I'm on to her but…" she croaked out an unsettling laugh. "…I am. You have to know how low-life leeches like Carol work and the only way to deal with them is to _literally_ squash them.

She would've never gotten anywhere in school if it wasn't for me. I showed her the ropes on her first day, I suggested that she join some clubs to make friends, and I'm the one who didn't call her out on the fact that she kept following me around like a lost puppy to mooch off my inner circle.

She wouldn't have 'her' friends, 'her' popularity, or 'her' Homecoming crown and sash if I didn't exist and she knows it. Plus, here's the real kicker; she's only done all of this out of pettiness."

Having heard of the backstory between Carol and Lori for himself, at least from a biased perspective, the subject of pettiness never once crossed through Lincoln's mind at all. He didn't think that Carol had embellished anything in her narrative and while it was obvious to him that Carol was far from the "family stealer" that Lori had dubbed her, Lincoln just had to know where she got this idea of pettiness from.

"Pettiness?" he asked. "What're you talking about?"

"I wouldn't be her BFF on literally the first day we meet so what does she do? She has to go and steal everything that I have. Trust me, Lincoln, she knows exactly what she's doing. That smug look she gave me at Homecoming is all the proof I need to know that she's nothing more than an egocentric, vindictive leech that only wants to deprive me of everything that I am."

Carol fumbled to respond, holding back the urge to lash out of instinct. Instead, she sought a peaceful resolution to their quarrel. It had never come to an exchange of heated words between them before and she wasn't planning on letting that happen now, especially that she felt all of this was partially her fault anyways.

Her actions at Homecoming were coming back to haunt her and even though she never intended to act out in genuine malice, her taunt had done nothing but increase Lori's suspicions about her, suspicions that were grounded on genuine observations.

She had _followed_ her around like a lost puppy and whether she knew it or not, she _was_ , in a way, mooching off of her. Even if she didn't do it out of hatred for a lack of Lori's immediate acceptance, it still rubbed Lori the wrong way and Carol understood that even though her actions were way out of line, she was obligated to vent out her emotions against her for what she was truly guilty of.

She wanted to apologize and steer the matter into a better end but Lori, who was marching towards her with wide, earth-rattling stomps, ceased her actions.

"And this is where I draw the line!" Lori bellowed as she moved in. "If she thinks I'm going to allow her to do the same thing to my family, she has another thing coming!"

Carol braced herself to evade Lori's oncoming barrage of blows but just as her body tensed, she felt a pressure on her lap lift. With a startled gasp, Carol watched as Lincoln was now intercepting Lori's path by standing between her and Lori, his arms and legs spread. From the close distance between her and Lori, her shadow cast over here, a looming premonition of the storm that was ready to rage over her head at any moment, lest Lincoln was able to diffuse the hostility.

"Stand aside if you know what's good for you, Lincoln," Lori ordered, not in the mood for Lincoln's involvement.

"No! I'm not moving! Carol didn't do anything wrong! You're just mixed up in the head!"

Lori brought up a shaking fist in full view in a silent threat that Lincoln wasn't sure that she'd act out on him.

But the uncertainty wasn't going to stop him.

"Move, Lincoln!"

"No!"

"I told you to-"

"No! I already told you that I'm not budging! If you want to get to her, you're gonna have to go through me!"

The noble gesture was something that Carol knew would only bring Lincoln trouble and from his own sister, no less.

"Lincoln, it's okay. I can stand up for myself. You don't have to do anything," Carol said.

Lincoln looked over his shoulder and flashed Carol a grin, brimming with confidence and tenderness.

"It's alright, Carol. I'm your little brother, remember? This is what family does for each other."

Lori stared numbly at the scene before her and began to convulse violently.

She had done it. She had wormed her way into Lincoln's heart and charmed him to the point where he actually referred to her as…as…family.

The last tendril of her restrain finally snapped and in a blind rush for immediate retribution, Lori only had Carol in her sights and didn't care to mind her step as she barreled towards her, not giving any thought to anything…

Or anyone that she blindly pushed aside, even Lincoln, who got knocked over with a hard shove. The boy helplessly flailed his arms, trying to grab anything for purchase and stop his descent. His startled yelp finally gets Lori to halt and turn her head to the source, just in time to watch as Lincoln's left lower side careened harshly into the corner of the coffee table.

Carol is the first to react as Lincoln screamed in agony once his body finally landed roughly on the floor, and he curled up into a ball while sobbing quietly and clutching his injured ribs.

"Lincoln!" she cried and pushed past a catatonic Lori, who just looked on in horror, and was at his side immediately while kneeling on the ground, huddled over him protectively.

The stairs creak and groan as four pattering pairs of footsteps reverberates. They're compounded on the carpeting as they get louder and louder until finally, Lucy, Lana, Lola, and Lisa come into Lori's view and they form a circle around Carol and Lincoln. Lori heard their panicked voices ringing in her ears but the cacophony just droned and buzzed in her head as a disharmonious jumble.

Lori blinked. Twice. Three times. Again. And once more. Each time, she hoped that once her eyes quickly snap open and shut, the horrible imagery would dissipate into the air and she'll be awake in her bed, escaped from this terrible nightmare.

Because this can't be happening. It just can't. She was the one who was supposed to be protecting her family from Carol. It wasn't supposed to be the other way around.

And Lincoln certainly wasn't supposed to be sprawled on his side while sobbing buckets and staining the carpet from something that _she_ did to him.

Her cheeks suddenly feel moist and when Lori blinked again, some of her tears crawl back into her eyes and burn, prompting her to brush them away with a few nudges of her forearm. She felt a thin sheen of smeared makeup caked onto her skin from the brush. When she looks at the scene before her again, Lana and Lola are glaring at her and protectively guarding Lincoln from Lori's sights.

Lori despised the exclusiveness cast upon her; surely, she at least had the right to see how Lincoln was doing. The fact that his crying was reduced to sniffles was assuring enough, at least.

Before she could move so much as half of an inch, Carol seemed to spot her from the corner of her eye. Despite the situation, her voice came out even and measured, though anger is easily noted.

"I'm not gonna tell you to get out of your own house, but I think you and I both know that Lincoln doesn't need you right now."

Lori didn't think that it's possible but before she knew it, her dowsed temper slowly but surely began to ignite once more but this time, from a different source.

Instead of it coming from anger at Carol, it's from shame at herself and the hurt from the isolation that she brought upon herself.

"Don't tell what my brother needs! I know more about Lincoln then you'll ever know!"

When Carol whips her head around and reflects her anger she exhibited from her return, that fire is trampled over meticulously.

"Oh, really?!" Carol snapped. "So, I'm supposed to believe that shoving your little brother down is okay, over some dumb hissy fit?! Call me a leech all you want but at least I'm not a monster like you!"

"I…"

Lori searched for another feigned retort to retain a sense of normalcy between them but realizes a glaring hole in her attempt; normalcy never involved her loved ones being hurt.

Instead, she settled for the honest-to-God truth and the second she did, even more tears streamed down her face and a painful lump formed in her throat.

"I want my brother back," she pleaded.

"Well guess what, Lori, I don't want you!"

She diverted her eyes down to the floor and looked on as tears dripped from her puffy eyes. She couldn't amplify the pain of her brother's reaction by seeing it for herself.

Maybe, just maybe, if she couldn't see him form those painful words out of his own mouth, she could chalk this up to a psychotic breakdown on her end that conjured up her deepest, most haunting fears.

Lincoln was not in the mood to give her that undeserving reprieve.

"I was hoping that maybe one day, you and Carol could be friends and maybe, we could all have fun together! But now, I see that's not even possible! If you don't want to get along with Carol, fine, but I like hanging out with her and I don't need you ruining everything just because you're jealous!"

Backed into a corner, all a blubbering Lori could do was try to deny.

"I-I'm not…I'm…I…I'm not…"

"Yes, you are, Lori! You're just jealous because Carol's a way better babysitter than you'll ever be! You drive all the way down here like a maniac and leave our parents and sisters stranded just so you can yell at someone for doing their job! Am I supposed to side with you for that?!"

She couldn't answer. _Wouldn't_ answer. Her jaw couldn't unfreeze to help her. Besides, she was far too entranced by the dawning realization that rooted in her brain and refused to let her avoid it.

Two years of prejudice, two years of assumptions… _shattered_. Lincoln was wrong about one thing, at least partially. Yes, she did envy Carol to some degree but not to the point where she'd fabricate an entire persona and latch it onto her just to feel like she had a superior moral ground over her.

No, her fears were real. Her suspicions were real. Her negative opinions were real. And now, as she considered her part in this collision of spiraling emotions and regretful decisions, she understood what her role was.

She was the monster and Carol was the hero. Sharing the same blood as Lincoln wouldn't keep him from realizing that.

"And then you…and then…"

Lori finally looked up when she heard Lincoln struggling to finish his sentence. The pain in his voice, hurt that she found similar to her own, draws her focus to him.

When she saw fresh tears anew, cascading like rivers down his throat, she wished she hadn't, especially when it seems that upon seeing her face, Lincoln reeled back in repulsion.

"And then you shoved me! You're supposed to be my sister, and you hurt me!"

Lori tried to step forward again, even doing so against the wishes of her visibly disapproving sisters, but Lincoln's hate-filled yell deterred her from motion.

"Leave me alone!"

Her legs were gnawed with tingling numbness and suddenly, breathing became laborious.

"Lincoln…please don't…"

She dropped to her knees and reached and arm out to Lincoln in desperation.

"I'm sorry, okay?! You were right! I crossed the line! Please just let me-"

"No! You're _not_ sorry! You're just jealous and paranoid of her! That's all! She's been through enough as it is! She doesn't need you making it worse! Carol's not the one who needs to leave!"

A pang of misery and dejection pierced through Lori's chest at what Lincoln shouted at her next.

" _ **YOU NEED TO LEAVE!"**_

Without another word, Lori scrambled off the floor and made a beeline to the door while wailing openly. When she got there, she opened the door and shut it behind her.

Lincoln let the bitter words settle in his mouth and didn't find the taste revolting in the slightest. Normally, he'd regret saying hurtful things to his sisters immediately after saying them but after everything Lori had put him and Carol through? Forgiveness and pity weren't exactly knocking at his door at the moment.

What _was_ knocking at his door, however, was a flash of aching, throbbing pain as he felt a tiny, Lisa-sized hand lightly pat over his bruise under his pajama shirt. He hissed through his teeth and looked down sharply at Lisa, who was giving all of her attention to Carol.

"A mild contusion. Thankfully, no serious medical intervention is required."

Carol breathed a sigh of relief but before she went to handle Lincoln by sending him to bed, so she could get an ice pack prepared for the bruise, she stopped when it looked like Lisa wasn't done yet.

Sure enough, she wasn't.

"I also contacted our parents and informed them of the turmoil that Lori initiated. Rest assured that she'll be doled out with the appropriate retribution for her actions."

Carol gave the girl a little pat on the head and smiled.

"Thanks, Lisa. I'll take it from here, though. Get back to sleep, okay?"

Without a word, Lisa turned back around and headed towards the stairs with her three accompanying sisters following closely behind. Now that they knew that Lincoln was going to be fine, they had no need to stick around any further.

"Are you alright, Lincoln?" Carol asked while she gingerly tried pulling down Lincoln's shirt back into place without hurting him.

"I-I think I'll be fine," Lincoln replied softly.

Though the bruise was certainly not a picnic for him, there was an even bigger pressing concern that Lincoln just had to have closure to.

"Where do you think she went?" Lincoln asked Carol without looking at her.

Curious about Lori's new whereabouts as well, Carol walked over to the living room window, opened the drapes, and strained her eyes through the darkness of the night. She looked towards her left at the driveway and picked up on the vacancy of the driveway.

The revelation gave her some peace of mind; no Vanzilla meant that Lori had probably gone back to get her family back.

"Hopefully to pick up her sisters and parents," Carol said and closed the drapes.

She went back to Lincoln, who was staring down at the floor and Carol realized that what had gotten his attention were the tiny wet spots that were littered by his feet from his tears.

A grin formed on her face when she thought about what she was going to do next. Heck, if Lincoln liked it before, what was saying that he wouldn't appreciate the gesture now?

"But let's not worry about that now. Let's get you to bed and then, I can treat your bruise. Okay, big guy?"

She moved her open, inviting hand into his line of sights. It took him a few second of deliberation to pick up what Carol was doing but then his mind replayed his instinctual hand hold from the hallway earlier and he smiles from ear-to-ear. With eager gratitude, he wrapped his hand around hers.

"Okay," he said and let Carol lead the way to his bedroom.


	9. Chapter 9

In a move that she would never dare pull off, especially under parental supervision, Lori took one hand off the steering wheel of Vanzilla and frantically reached down for her cellphone in the cup holder. Without taking her eyes off the empty lane of Franklin Avenue, she blindly punched in her father's number and shakily held the phone up to her ear.

The ringing she heard didn't end fast enough for Lori to calm down. Her bleary eyes, fogged by unshed tears, strain to retain a healthy focus on her surroundings and the anxiety plucking at her nerves nearly drove her insane, figuratively and almost literally.

Her repeated, rapid-fire mental mantra of "Pick up!" carried on through a torturous silence. Until, at last…

" _Hel-"_

"Dad?!"

Her hoarse, crackled voice and shuddering limbs belie the indignant fury that she carried in the pit of her stomach just minutes ago and it further cemented to Lori the true magnitude of her fall from grace.

And she felt that she was far from finished with her plummet.

" _Lori?"_

She sensed a smattering of concern in his voice but her guilt urged her not to relent on her remorse. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened as her face was once more streaked by rivulets of tears.

"Dad, look, I'm really, really, really sorry, okay?! I don't * _sniff*_ know what came over me and I just _*hic*_ …I just…"

Her throat ached from her prior sobbing and her current weeping amplified that strain, forcing her to withhold for a second before she began again.

"I'm so sorry! I'm coming to get you guys right now! Just hang on!"

" _Lori, calm down. It's okay."_

Before another frantic word of apology can dislodge, Lori crumbled under the enigmatic sentences her father just spoke to her and asked, "Wh-what? What'd you… _*sniff*_ …mean it's okay?"

" _I've got it covered. One of my co-workers is giving us a ride home. We're on our way now. We should be home in about half an hour."_

Within the torrent of her misery, there came a squall of peace that dispelled some, but not all, of her turmoil. The need to race against the clock…it all falls to the wayside as the alleviation of pressure, brought about by her father's assurance, compelled her to bring the rushing Vanzilla to a grinding halt.

No longer in a constant state of motion, Lori let the tension of her short-lived struggle dissipate in the air as she reclined in the driver's seat and breathed a sigh of relief. After everything she'd been through, both as a result of happenstance and as a product of her own decisions, she marveled at the fact that her body wasn't literally in knots right now.

Her season of reprieve proved to be maliciously brief as the stern voice of her father spoke to her.

" _Lori?"_

Foreboding racked through her muscles. She _knew_ that she was in for it now and she was almost disgusted with herself by how much she feared her punishment with the knowledge that she brought it on herself.

All the same, she timidly replied, "Y-yes?"

" _Your mother and I are going to have a serious talk with you when we get home. The stunt you pulled tonight was absolutely inexcusable. On top of that, Lisa told us what you did when you got home earlier and believe me, young lady, that will not go unpunished, either. Do I make myself clear?"_

The shrapnel of that bombshell, the fact that he'd already aware of her outburst and worst of all, her actions towards Lincoln, punctured her from all sides and left her awash with tormenting distress, nearly of the same magnitude as the one she felt when she looked on at the immediate aftermath of her fateful shove that left her brother crying on the floor in a bruised, hate-filled heap.

The gallows awaited her; Lori knew this for sure. There would be no trial, no jury…only a sentence that she knew she'd done more than enough to earn.

She weakly nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see it. "Yes, sir."

" _Good. We'll see you shortly."_

The call ended and the dam burst; the cellphone slipped out of Lori's lax fingers and the sound of it clacking against the gear stick was drowned out by her loud sobbing.

* * *

It was a quarter before 11:00 by the time Lori was at the scene of the crime once more as she stood right outside the front door.

Instead of waiting for the arrival of her parents and a quartet of disgruntled sisters in the house with Carol, she opted to drive into a corner of the neighborhood where she knew that her family wouldn't run into her while they made their way back home.

Once she got a text from her mother, letting her know that Carol was gone and her siblings had gone to bed for the evening, she sadly made her way back home, thinking about the stern discussion that her parents had in store for her.

It was cowardly for her to avoid Carol and her sisters like this. She should've tried to make amends right away, even while knowing that she wasn't owed the acceptance of her heartfelt apology, but the possibility of denial…it pressured her into slithering down the path of least resistance out of fear of rejection and the realization that she probably delivered irreparable damage that apologies couldn't have a hope to mend.

No, she _couldn't_ confront them…

At least for now, anyways. She would make it up to them eventually, Lincoln _especially_ , but even though she felt like she hit the lowest level of depravity in her life, her shriveling pride refused to unlatch from the belief that she was allowed at least a little shred of her dignity and peace of mind intact.

She knew her clothes are in a mess, sweat and tear stains splotched all over the fabric. She was also sure that her makeup was a disaster from all the crying and now that she noticed, her hair was a bit out of line.

Oh well. Some bewildered looks would be the least of her problems.

By the time she made it back and entered the house, there they are; militant and unyielding in their determination. Lori had been on the receiving end of such disciplinary confrontations enough times to have an idea about what to expect but that still doesn't keep the festering, crawling sensation of larvae from sprouting in her belly and making her nearly reel from the sting.

"Sit down," Lynn Sr. ordered and Lori obliged without a word, slinking past them while avoiding any further eye contact.

She made sure not to sit on the same cushion that she saw Carol sit on when she walked in on her and Lincoln. As far as she was concerned, she wasn't even worthy of occupying that same spot on the couch as her.

Her head hung, eyes lazily scanning the floor and out of the corner of her gaze is the edge of the coffee table that did her brother in.

She blinked back a fresh spring of tears when she realized that she was the perpetrator and _it_ was a mere accomplice. The table certainly wouldn't be getting a tongue lashing and rightfully so.

"Explain yourself," Rita nearly growled.

"I thought Lisa told you already," Lori said without thinking.

Her flight response kicked in at the last second and coerced her to find a way to squirm her way out of this dress down. Her moral compass reprimanded her for doing so and Lori predicted that her parents will follow suit.

"We heard the story from Lisa but we want to hear it coming from _you_ ," Rita fired back, arms folded. "In addition, we want to know _why_ you did what you did tonight."

An explanation, and a darn good one, is all that Lori had to retain goodwill with her loved ones. She knew this…

So why was her throat blocking it from escaping into the air? Lori didn't know but she wanted her cowardice to take a backseat and let her take control.

She lifted he head up slowly and reeled back in dread when the unflinching, steely faces of her parents came into view.

"Lori, you're not getting a wink of sleep until you come clean," Lynn Sr. said. "We're not letting this go. Don't think that you can just sit there and…"

He trailed off when his whimpering daughter held up her hand, silently telling him and his wife to give her a few seconds to compose herself.

She tried to quell her racing heartbeat but upon finding no success, she gave them what they want.

"Sorry," Lori said, sniffling. "I'll tell you everything."

She began with why she felt so much disdain for Carol, everything from the day they met to her Homecoming Queen success.

She next explained how her fear of not being needed by her family mutated into full-blown paranoia of being replaced with someone who she felt had it out for her.

Finally, she recounted, with much sadness and regret, how it all led to her leaving them stranded so she could tell off and beat up an innocent babysitter and that if not for her horrible, violent reflexes hurting Lincoln, she probably would've done it.

"And this is all true?" Rita asked as Lori wrapped up her explanation.

Lori nodded. "All of it."

"I see."

Lori waited quietly for her punishment. Whatever it was, she was ready. Now that she narrated her disgustingly awful actions out in the open, what could be worse than the fact that her parents knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she was horrible monster that was undeserving of their love?

Her heart clenched when she sees that her father is ready to make a statement.

"We're going to get this out of the way first, Lori. We are _very_ disappointed in you. You were beyond irrational, irresponsible, and above all else, reckless. What you did tonight was indefensible, by every meaning of the word. Believe us, you _will_ be properly punished for this."

Here it comes. Any minute now, they'd throw the book at her for being such a despicable demon. They'd probably denounce her as their daughter and treat her with contempt for the rest of her existence. She couldn't see how things would turn out any other wa-

"We're not done yet. Listen up because this is the most important thing."

Lori readied herself for the justice that her actions wrought out…

And blinked into an alerted stupor when she saw her father's face melt into one of warming sentimentality. Her mother does the same and Lori was at a loss for words. She looked from side to side at both parents, silently asking for an explanation for their mitigating gazes.

"We want you to realize is that no one in the world will ever replace you. You were this family's true first gift and you are a priceless treasure without equal. The same thing applies to your siblings."

"Your father's right," Rita added. "It should go without saying that while Carol Pingrey is an excellent babysitter, she is nothing compared to you."

Compliments? Declarations of love? Affirmations that she's irreplaceable?

Lori was certain that she's hallucinating but when parents take a seat on either side of her, her father wrapping an arm around her shoulders and bringing her in for a sideways hug, she can only sit in stunned silence as the palpable warmth of his hugs thawed away at the doubt her fortune.

"And we're not just saying that because you're our daughter, either," Lynn Sr. said mirthfully with a smile. "You're an incredible person. Strong-willed, capable, dependable; you're all those things and so much more. You're a reminder that we're blessed and lucky to have such wonderful children in our lives. You make us proud every single day and no matter how many mistakes you make, nothing will ever change that. We may not be pleased with what you did but that doesn't mean that you don't mean the world to us."

"I'm sorry," Lori said, still faltered from the direction the conversation steered in. "I really am. You believe me, right?"

But despite everything, she wanted one thing to be perfectly clear; she truly wass sorry and even after hearing that her parents love her, now more than ever, she wanted clarification on that very important detail.

"We do," Rita said.

She gave her daughter's shoulder a quick, soothing rub before she pecked her on the forehead and gently nudged her out of her seat.

"Go on upstairs and get some rest," Rita told her. "We need some time to think about your punishment and we'll be telling it to you first thing in the morning. In addition, you'll be apologizing to everyone once they've gotten dressed. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Lori said.

She wasn't entirely sure if she could come face to face with all her siblings, especially with the fact that she managed to slight every single one of them, but she knew that it'd have to come down to that eventually.

It was the right thing to do, anyways, so it wasn't like they were pulling teeth by making her do something unreasonable.

She took a few steps away from them, ready to just hit the sack and hope that she could have a good night's rest. Before she could go any further, she's called to a halt by her father.

"Lori?"

She looked over her shoulder and waited for him to speak his mind.

"We love you and we always will. Never forget that."

She offered them an expression of gratitude before she turned back around and climbed up the stairs.

She hoped that she could express further gratitude if she could retire to bed without running into her siblings.

* * *

Restrictions on her Vanzilla privileges. No phone after eight at night. Extra chores on the weekend. No hanging out with friends on the weekends.

All of this lasting until the end of the school year.

That's what Lori was greeted to after being woken up by her parents on Saturday morning. It honestly wasn't as bad as she thought it would be, considering what she was guilty of.

What she was told next is what worried her. Her siblings were all waiting for her in the living room, told by their parents that she would be coming down shortly to apologize to all of them.

After that, Lori was given a few minutes to look presentable and left to her own devices. A quick face wash, a fresh set of clothes, and a round of rigorous teeth brushing later, Lori was as ready as she'd ever be.

Her joints ache and protest as she gingerly walked down the stairs. It wasn't that bad when she was slowly shuffling about to get dressed, but the sensation that Lynn described as DOMS was kicking into high gear.

By now, she was halfway down and dared to peer over the bannister, wanting to register the faces of her audience now so she could prepare herself for what was to come. She didn't give her parents much thought, though; her siblings were the wilds cards in this scenario and as they sat on the couch, Lori scanned their faces to see what she was dealing with.

Leni, Luan, and Lily offer her expressions of concern and perhaps pity as well.

Lisa, of course, was as stoic and unreadable as ever. Same as Lucy, though her frown looked longer than it ever was before.

Luna's face was slightly hardened as she glares her older sister down but is otherwise, in Lori's opinion, malleable enough to deter from her grudge with an apology.

The twins and Lynn? _Especially_ Lynn? They let her know, right away, that they weren't not happy with her in the slightest. With how Lola and Lana shielded Lincoln from her, it wasn't hard for Lori to see why they'd react to her presence like that.

And of course, Lynn was especially close to Lincoln. Despite her roughhousing with him and her intrusive habits that pestered him to no end, she deeply cared for Lincoln and hated seeing him get hurt.

But speaking of Lincoln…

Lori saw that her brother was nowhere to be found and by the time she made it all the way down, she asked to no one in particular, "Where's Lincoln?"

Immediately, her parents flinched and retained a nervous, reluctant appearance. But finally, her father answered her.

"Well, uh, you see Lori, Lincoln…well…he-"

"Lincoln wants nothing to with you," Lynn spat in contempt. "Can't blame him, either."

That remark earned her a sideways glance from her father that shut her up instantly, though she remained grounded in her disdain.

Lori winced. She should've seen that coming and it was stupid of her to even ask otherwise.

"Though Lynn spoke completely out of turn," Rita said, giving Lynn and quick glare, "she's right. Lincoln's not feeling up to seeing you right now. We respected his wishes and he's in his room as we speak. And we ask that you not to intrude on him. He needs time to get over what happened. Once he's ready to open up to you, then you can go on and make amends. Until then, give him his space."

"I understand," Lori replied mournfully.

If her brother hated her, which she was certain his absence meant, then she would have to deal with the hand that she dealt herself. It wasn't her place to try and change his mind to ease her pain.

"Good. Whenever you're ready."

Lori understood what she meant and walks over to the middle of the living room. She has her eyes locked with Lynn the whole time, knowing that the first part of her apology was going out to the sisters that accompanied her last night and Lynn, out of all of them, needed to hear it the most.

"Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn…I'm really, really sorry about deserting you like that. It wasn't right. I'm supposed to be an example for you guys and I completely blew it by acting out like a maniac. Not only that, I spat all over your efforts when you were trying to cheer me up. They weren't perfect but the thought counted and I completely disregarded them by going crazy. That wasn't fair of me at all."

Lynn didn't look the least bit ready to forgive her but all the same, Lori finished with, "I know it's going to take some time, but I hope you can all forgive me one day."

She felt a longstanding, crushing weight lift from her spirits and with vigor anew, she turned to face the twins, who thankfully weren't as visibly angry as Lynn appeared to be. Like with Lynn, Lori felt it necessary to address the sisters that she felt that she had given the most spite to.

"Lucy, Lola, Lana, Lisa, Lily…I'm sorry to you as well. I must've freaked you all out with all the yelling and screaming I did. I didn't make things any better when I…"

His agony. His sobbing. His insistence that she leave. The memories of Lincoln's pain and the tremors of fear and anger it spread throughout her younger siblings.

They flood back in the worst way and Lori was unable to confess what she knew that everyone in the house was already privy to.

"When…when I-"

"Go on. Say it," Lynn challenged in a mocking tone.

Her father was quick to intervene. "Lynn, that's enough. Let Lori-"

"Say it, Lori!" Lynn taunted further. "Say it so we can all hear it! Don't mumble!"

"Lynn, one more word out of you and-"

"Tell us what you did to Lincoln, you freak!"

Lori couldn't take the shame any longer and before anyone could react, pain in her body and all, she ran away crying and zipped up the stairs.

It took that to make Lynn shrink back in guilt. Before she could give chase, her mother held her down with a hand on her shoulder.

"You're staying right here, Lynn. We'll be dealing with _you_ in a bit," she said sternly and turned to her other children. "The rest of you can go."

With that, everyone, with the exception of Lynn, Lynn Sr. and Rita, disperse and go about their way. Most of them loiter about downstairs but Leni doesn't do so, deciding to comfort Lori in her time of need and headed upstairs.

Noticing Leni's movements and picking up on her intentions, Rita gives her husband a request.

"I'll take care of Lynn. Can you make sure that Lori's okay?"

Without having to think twice, Lynn Sr. said, "Will do."

* * *

Lori didn't expect to be sobbing in her pillow when she woke up this morning. Maybe an awkward sibling encounter or two but _this_? Definitely not.

Leni, try as she might, couldn't soothe her hurt feelings. She rubbed her sister's back while shushing her motherly, doing her best to assure Lori that she shouldn't feel bad.

"Lori, you're not a freak. Lynn's just upset. She didn't mean it," Leni said sweetly over Lori's pillow-muffled wails.

When that doesn't work, Leni frowned a bit and dug down deep for a breakthrough. It takes her some but one finally comes to mind and a smile spreads across her face

"Look, I'll go make you a banana, mango, and kiwi smoothie. That always cheers you up, right?"

Sure enough, Lori's finally ceased her crying but she still wasn't ready to lift her head. If she did, she'd be facing the world, a world where Lincoln had absolute contempt for her. She figured as much but Lincoln's absence, combined with her attempt at recounting her actions, made it all the more apparent.

Lynn was right on the money. She _was_ a freak. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

A knock on the door got Leni to look over at it. She wasn't not very fond of the intrusion, as she wanted to comfort Lori in peace, but she figured that her other sisters might be concerned for her, too, and they had just as much of a right to help as she did.

"I'll get it," Leni said and strode over to the door.

Once she was there, just before she could open it, the voice from the other side compelled her to halt.

"Leni?"

Lori sunk lower into the mattress. She did _not_ need to see her father right now. Or her mother, for that matter. She knew what they would say to her but she didn't feel like she was worthy of her pity. It was bad enough that Leni was inspired to placate her; her parents didn't need to be added to the mix.

"Yeah, Dad?" Leni answered.

"Can I speak with Lori? Alone?"

Though his request was structured like a series of questions, Leni knew that she didn't have much say.

"Okay."

She opened the door and bid Lori adieu.

"Bye, Lori. I'll be back soon with your smoothie."

She shuffled past her father, who wastes no time in entering the room and closing the door behind him. He was quick to get to the point.

"Look, Lori, I-"

"Don't say it."

By now, Lori was lethargically laying down on her side, her face no longer obstructed by the pillow. She could see her father overlooking her from afar, worry etched on his face.

"Don't say that I'm not a freak," she continued. "I _am_. I hurt Lincoln, and I flipped out big time. How can I be anything _but_ a freak?"

"Because no freak would ever feel sorry for their wrongdoings."

Once again, her father leaves her speechless. Yes, it was true that once the gravity of her actions caught up to her, she felt guilt, more than any time she can remember. However, while she had to admit that having a conscience did reflect a healthy sense of humanity, she couldn't be sure that it meant much of anything.

"They wouldn't care about anyone or anything unless they got a benefit from their existence. Freaks don't have a conscience do and that's why you're so remorseful and ashamed."

Lori decided to sit up and give her father her full attention, having interest in where he was going with this.

"Don't let Lynn get you down, okay? I heard what Leni said to you earlier and she's right. She's just angry. It doesn't excuse what she did but like you, she just let her emotions get the better of her. That doesn't make her a bad person, does it?"

She didn't need to think about a proper reply.

"No. No, it doesn't."

Lori would go as far as to go to bat for Lynn and say that she didn't do anything wrong. She was royally ticked off and rightfully so. While she was mean, it wasn't as if she was acting indignant out of pure spite; there was concern for Lincoln amidst all of that.

Happy with his daughter's response, Lynn Sr. grinned and said, "I'm glad you see it that way."

Thinking that her father was finished, Lori was about to lay back down and wait for Leni to return…

"But Lori," Lynn Sr. said with a distressed voice that coaxed Lori to not retreat to immediate comfort just yet, "your mother and I had a lengthy discussion after you went to bed last night. Needless to say, we're both very concerned for your well-being and after careful consideration, we decided that it'd be for the best for you if you talked to a therapist."

Lori's eyes widened as a sting of panic slapped her across the face. " _What?_ "

Lynn Sr. was quick to put Lori's fears at ease.

"Now, don't get scared. We don't think you're crazy. We just think that you need a safe space to vent about whatever it was that made you high-strung enough to act out last night. That's all."

The blonde teen sighed. That was a close one. For a second, she assumed that her parents thought that she needed some psychiatric evaluation, as if she were some homicidal torrent of unchecked emotions that was ready to…ready to…

Lori gasped. That almost sounded exactly like her. The homicidal part? No, but as far as being a torrent of unchecked emotions? Could she be anything but that after last night? Was there any room for doubt? And if there wasn't, wouldn't it be best to talk to someone who was trained and certified to handle such cases like hers?

And yet…what if she _did_ go to a therapist? What if they told her something that she didn't like? What if she was evaluated and found to be incapable of day-to-day life without constant monitoring or heavy doses of medication? She didn't know what a life like that would be like and she didn't want to find out.

Oblivious to Lori's inner struggle, Lynn Sr. further explained himself without a hitch.

"We also want to make one thing clear; we respect you enough to where we know that we can safely leave that choice in your hands. If you don't want to see a therapist, then fine. But if you choose not to, we don't want to see you lash out like that again or we won't be leaving you with that choice next time."

A choice? After everything she had done, she was given a choice?

"Okay, Dad. I understand," Lori said, slightly relieved.

She didn't know what she wanted to do about a therapist but she was glad that she was given the power go where she wanted. She'd make up her mind on the matter, eventually, but right now, all she wanted to do was wait out the storm and apologize to Lincoln when he gave her the chance to do so.

"Glad that's settled," Lynn Sr. replied and opened the bedroom door. "I'm going to the grocery store in a few minutes. You need anything?"

"Just a cranberry muffin or two."

Lynn Sr. flashed a cheeky grin.

"I'll make it five."

For the first time in what felt like a while, Lori laughed.

"Thank you."

Lori watched as her father looked to depart but as soon as she turned around, something down the hallway seems to capture his attention.

"There's someone who wants to see you," Lynn Sr. said.

"Send her in," Lori replied and threw her comforter over her body.

Since she knew that it couldn't be Lincoln, Lori was sure that the visitor was a girl.

But as she saw said visitor awkward shuffling into her bedroom as she walked past her father, she found the discovery to be almost as shocking as if it were Lincoln himself.

"H-hey, Lynn," Lori greeted, smiling a bit nervously.

Lynn didn't say anything as she closed the door behind her. She remained mute as she trundled over to Lori's bed and stopped herself from going any further when she was about halfway there.

Lori was bewildered by her new attitude; instead of staring her down angrily, Lynn looked almost embarrassed to make eye contact with her. She rubbed at her neck with the other in a nonverbal tick that indicated that she was on the spot.

"I'm sorry I lost my cool back there," Lynn said, looking over at Leni's bed instead of addressing her sister directly.

"I'd be a hypocrite if I told you that I couldn't understand," Lori said, recalling her father's words about Lynn not being a bad person because of a blown gasket. "Besides, at least _you_ had a good reason. I hurt my brother, Lynn."

"It was an accident, though. You didn't mean it."

Lori grabbed her crying pillow and held it to her chest. She frowned and shook her head.

"And what good does that do? The bruise is still there. Accident or not, he's in pain and it's literally all my fault."

Lynn hummed in contemplation and for the first time since their conversation began, she faced Lori and smiled.

"That may be true but I don't think you're giving Lincoln enough credit. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie; he's pretty miffed at you right now. Heck, it might take him a while to forgive you but he always comes around eventually. He'd never hold a grudge against anyone he cares about forever."

Someone...he cared about. Without question, Lori knew that those people included his friends and family.

But what of _her_? Did she still have a place in his heart after what she did? She didn't know if she can answer that honestly or accurately but she counted on the slight sliver of hope that everything will turn around for the better.

"Well, it might not be the answer I wanted but at least it's something to cling on," Lori said, flashing Lynn with a smile of her own.

It nearly melted away, though, when Lori realized that she's left in the dark about something that Lynn never bothered to divulge her on.

"Not to call you out or anything but why did you come up here to apologize?" Lori asked, praying that Lynn wouldn't get offended.

Thankfully, she didn't appear to be, though her mood took on a more somber edge.

"I snapped out of beast mode after you ran away, crying. Right there and then, I picked up on how much of a jerk I was to you. Too little, too late but hey, better late than never, I suppose. Plus, now that I'm banned from playing any sports outside for the rest of the weekend, I figured that since I'm basically under house arrest, I make things right between us while I'm here."

Moved by the sincerity and affection of Lynn's gesture, Lori stretched out her arms, ignoring the discomfort that racked through her limbs as she cooed out lovingly, "C'mere, you."

At the speed of a bullet train, Lynn leapt towards her sister, who couldn't process the brunette, jersey wearing projectile in time, and crushed her in a vice-grip like bearhug that made Lori squeal out, "DOMS, DOMS, DOMS!"

Lynn let go immediately, her cheeks flushed.

"Oops," she muttered.

* * *

Monday morning hit Lori like a ton of bricks as a newfound feeling of responsibility comes to her. She woke up knowing that she had to go to school and apologize to a certain babysitter.

Lori never thought she'd ever say a kind word to Carol Pingrey, of all people, but she knew that she's owed that and so much more after what she had been put through.

Wasting little time in getting dressed to start the day, Lori left the house earlier than usual so she could get to school early and wait by the front entrance for Carol to show up. As she drove along her way, she tried not to think about her little brother but failed because of one problem…

He was _still_ giving her the cold shoulder. Over the course of the entire weekend, whenever she'd enter a room that he was in, he'd leave and walk past her without acknowledging her. He tried to do it nonchalantly enough to not raise suspicion but Lori knew a cold shoulder when she felt one.

All the same, she felt that she deserved it and for more than obvious reasons. She couldn't believe that it had taken her until literally _now_ to understand that there was more to Lincoln's pain than she initially thought. She had been so caught up in what she did to him physically that she had neglected her other transgression and the memory of some of Lincoln's last words harshly remind her of what it was:

 _"I was hoping that maybe one day, you and Carol could be friends and maybe, we could all have fun together! But now, I see that's not even possible! If you don't want to get along with Carol, fine, but I like hanging out with her and I don't need you ruining everything just because you're jealous!"_

She wanted to rip Lincoln away from someone that had meant so much to him. She knew full well that Lincoln and Carol had really hit it off but in her jealous, crazed rage, none of that mattered and in acting in such a way, she had effectively told Lincoln that he didn't matter.

Lori groaned. No wonder Lincoln hated her guts.

Finally, the school came up and once she parked in a vacant student parking spot, Lori made her way to the school's front entrance, sitting down on the top step and not minding the few looks she got from a few passerby early bird students.

With her goal in mind, Lori waited.

And waited.

And waited.

By now, it was getting close to first period and more students were pouring into the building. Not wanting to get in the way, Lori turned to walk inside herself and standby at the doors from the inside. Upon turning around, she spotted a familiar headband, cropped on top of a flowing mane of blonde hair moving past her.

Hurriedly, she pushed her way through the crowd that amassed that set of hairs, earning grunts and mutters from whomever she squeezed past. Finally, she made it through and her heart soared in elation when she realized that in her fortuity, she stumbled across none other than Carol Pingrey herself. She waited until Carol made it to her locker before she crept up behind her and silently tapped her on the shoulder and waited for her to turn around.

Like she always saw from her from afar, Carol was all smiles…

At least for the split second that she didn't see Lori. Once she did, her smile crumbled, leaving behind an uneasy look that dispirited Lori in an instant.

"Oh…uhhhhh…" Carol began nervously, looking up at the ceiling while tugging at her shirt collar. "H-hey, Lori. You, uh, need something?"

Her reaction was worse than what Lori anticipated. Still, she wasn't going to let that stop her from telling Carol what she needed to hear.

But just as she was about to explain herself, surprisingly, Carol had cut in with her own piece.

"Okay, before you say anything, I just want you to know that I'm sorry."

Lori pinched herself on the arm. She knew that it wasn't Opposite Day and unless this was the beginning of a candid camera prank, she had no idea how Carol's words could make any sense.

"Wait… _you're_ sorry?" Lori asked as she pointed at Carol. "For what?"

"For getting on your nerves this whole time. Despite what you've thought of me, I haven't been trying to get under your skin."

Carol realizes her choice of words and chuckles for reasons Lori can't figure out.

"Okay, so that's not totally true. I _was_ trying to be a nuisance at Homecoming but other than that, I just wanted to hang out with you and I took it too far. I should've just left well enough alone."

Lori shook her head. "You're just too much. After everything I said to you, after all the things that I wanted to do to you, _you_ apologize?"

Carol feebly nodded and Lori couldn'tt fathom how this level of tolerance is human. It was almost sickening but only because it served to put her on the spot.

"You're a way better person than I am," Lori said. "But then again, I guess you kinda realized that since…y'know, that incident from a few days ago."

The shift in conversation awakened Carol's curiosity to something that Lori wasn't too comfortable talking about with anyone other than family.

"How's Lincoln, by the way?"

Lori clutched onto her backpack handles tightly.

"He doesn't have that nasty bruise anymore, so that's good," she revealed, hoping to leave it at that and let the subject of Lincoln peter out.

Carol wanted nothing to do with that, however.

"There's something you're not telling me, is there?"

Lori cursed her inability to mask her emotions well enough to veer Carol's eagle eye observation away from her angst and just decides to be honest.

"He hates me. My only brother hates me," Lori said.

She brought up her hand to cover her eyes, wanting to shield herself from Carol witnessing possible waterworks.

"But then again, can you blame him? I'd hate me if I were him. He won't look at me, won't talk to me, won't…" Her hand drooped down, her arms dangling limply at her side. "No. I don't deserve a pity party. Besides, I didn't come here to make you feel sorry for me. In fact, I came here so that _I_ can apologize. I should've never treated you like that the other night, barging in and yelling at you."

Lori blushed and stared at the ground as she mumbled, "And wanting to beat you up totally crossed the line, too."

"That it did," Carol replied in a playfully jovial tone.

Lori snickered at her reaction and braved looked up at Carol again.

"You were doing a great job babysitting my little siblings and instead of thanking you like I should've, I took out all my insecurities on you."

Carol quirked an eyebrow, intrigued. "Insecurities?"

"I'm a senior, Carol. In a couple of months, I'll be graduating and when I do that, I'll be going off to a university. When that happens, I won't be seeing my family so often. Sure, they might come around and visit me from time to time but it won't be the same thing as literally living under the same roof as them.

After that, my little siblings…they'll move on…move on _without_ me. They won't need me to drive them around or watch over them or buy them presents or…"

Lori choked up a bit but carried on once she took a second's length of composure.

"I just want them to rely on me for as much time as possible until I can't be with them every day. They're the best part of my life, hands down, and I don't want to lose them."

A light bulb blinked over Carol's head once Lori's admittance is uttered.

"So that's what you meant," she said in a victorious, eureka-filled exclamation.

Lori just shrugged at her elation, not knowing what to make of Carol's statement. She knew the blanks were filled in when Carol told her, "When you were saying all that stuff about me taking your family...now it all makes sense. I mean, I guess I kinda got it when you thought I was trying to take your friends but I never knew that you thought about your family like that. It makes sense that with that mindset, plus with your opinion about me, you'd think that I was trying to replace you."

Then, Carol steely gives Lori a look befitting of a scolding teacher.

"But just because it makes sense doesn't mean that you were right to treat your family the way you did, especially Lincoln."

Lori shrunk back in shame and can only nod in agreement. Pacified by her response, Carol offered her a smile.

"But still, thanks for apologizing to me the way you did, and I'm also happy to hear that Lincoln's doing well."

Sensing that Carol planned on leaving, Lori reached out to her quickly and said, "Wait. There's something I want to give you."

She procured her wallet from her pocket and pulled out a white card that Carol couldn't recognize. Lori held it out to her for her to take but Carol didn't, wanting an explanation for what it was instead.

"What's this?" Carol asked, straining to look at the lettering against the white background of the card.

"It's a $100 gift card that I won at that raffle a few days ago," Lori explained. "It's good for any purchases at the Royal Woods Mall. I want you to have it."

The idea of being handed one hundred dollars, even at a limited venue, doesn't sit well with Carol, especially as an addition to an apology that she already accepted.

"This is sweet and all but why do you want to give this to me?"

"Well, first of all, I'm doing this as a token of apology. Saying that I'm sorry isn't enough."

"But Lori, I-"

"Please just hear me out, okay?"

Carol inclined her head and waited for Lori to continue.

"The second reason is because I know that Lincoln really misses you. I mean, if he's calling himself your little brother, I know that you mean the world to him. And since you seem to be fond of him, too, I'd like to ask you if you could drop by and hang out with him every now and then. Maybe you could take him out to the mall and use the gift card to buy yourselves whatever you need."

Carol looked back at the card and mulled it over. In a move that disheartened Lori, Carol politely pushed the card back towards her.

"That sounds like a job for a big sister, Lori. I don't fit the bill," Carol said rather sadly.

Lori shakes her head in insistence. She can't believe that Carol seemed to forget what Lincoln had said to her but _she_ remembers:

 _"It's alright, Carol. I'm your little brother, remember? This is what family does for each other."_

"But you _are_ a sister to him, Carol," Lori countered, pleading with Carol to reconsider her stance. "That's what counts, doesn't it? And besides, I'm not allowed to drive the van anywhere but from school to home for the rest of the school year so it's not like I'd be able to do it myself."

She doesn't know if its the pragmatism or the sentiment wins Carol over but either way, Lori is thrilled when Carol accepts the card and puts it away in her skirt pocket.

"Thanks, Lori," Carol said.

Satisfied with herself, Lori went to make her way to her own locker so she could get started with her school day…

Only to be stopped when Carol grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Hey, Lori? If you're not busy tomorrow, do you wanna…I dunno, do something together?"

Lori turned around to face Carol, her face reflecting disbelief.

She pointed to herself and asks, "Me?"

Carol smiles and nodded.

"With you?"

She got another nod.

"As friends?"

This time, she gets an apprehensive grin instead.

"I don't know if it'll be easy to get to that stage but…"

Lori waited on pins and needles as Carol pondered the proposal. She'd laugh at the irony of the situation if she wasn't so nervous. Now, _she_ was the one who seemed to value a friendship between the two the most and why shouldn't she? After forgiving her so easily and getting along with her family so swimmingly, could Carol Pingrey be anything but a good friend?

She released a breath she didn't know she was holding onto when Carol finally responded. "Sure. We could give it a try."

Lori beamed. "Sounds good."

With that, Lori departed, leaving her newly discovered associate behind to tend to her business.

Now fully redeemed with Carol, Lori dwelled on the outcome to all of this; it was all bittersweet, all things considered. While her relationship with Carol had improved, the one she had in Lincoln looked damaged well beyond the point of immediate repair.

Would she able to weather a storm that could last days? Weeks? Months? Possibly years? And entire lifetime, maybe?

Hopefully, it wouldn't have to come to that but if she did, she'd do so while holding out hope for a better tomorrow.

After all, if she and Carol could get along, what meant that it couldn't work out between her and Lincoln one day?

But in the meantime, she came to a decision about what her father had said to her on Saturday and she had decided that she would be looking into some therapy sessions, after all. It would be for the best to nip any deep-rooted problems in the bud while there was still a chance for her life to remain as intact as possible, without more shattered, broken relationship to bring her more guilt and shame.

Lori smiled to herself when she realized what this meant. If she had to leave the house to go while her parents went with her, that could only mean one thing…

They would need a babysitter to watch over her siblings, and she was pretty sure she knew the right person for the job.


End file.
